Happy New Year! As the first issue of volume 31 thuds onto your mat, we are happy to declare the increase in page numbers a success in every respect. As you know, we have increased our published volume by 25% in order to keep up with the growing number of good quality manuscripts. The flow has continued, and in fact continues to increase. At the same time, after a bit of a hiccup, we have a working website that carries the additional material that usually accompanies brief clinical reports. For those of you thinking of submitting brief clinical reports, this is important because it means that you will no longer have to post out fuller reports or supporting documents. Also, documents posted in this way will be citable publications. (However, it is also important to note that the rules restricting “double publication” apply to such material).

Recent cognitive behavioural models of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) suggest that the misinterpretation of the meaning of intrusive thoughts plays a pivotal role in the escalation of these thoughts to clinical obsessions, but less attention has been paid to why only certain intrusive thoughts become the focus of these misappraisals. Theoretical speculation suggests that thoughts that have relevance for an individual's value system or sense of self may be particularly salient and upsetting for people. The role of thought appraisal and contradiction of valued aspects of self were examined in a nonclinical population. It was hypothesized that participants reporting on upsetting intrusive thoughts would appraise these thoughts negatively and would report that these thoughts contradict important aspects of self to a greater degree than participants reporting on less upsetting intrusive thoughts. Participants (N = 64) were randomly assigned to report on either the most or least upsetting intrusive thought they had experienced. They completed questionnaires on appraisals of these thoughts, valued aspects of self, and contradiction of self. Consistent with predictions, participants reporting on more upsetting thoughts appraised these thoughts in a more negative manner and reported that these thoughts contradicted valued aspects of self to a greater degree than participants in the least upsetting thought group. These results support Salkovskis' (1985) and Rachman's (1997, 1998) cognitive behavioural models of OCD, and suggest that the degree of contradiction of self may help us understand why some obsessional thoughts are much more upsetting than others.

How do somatic causal attributions for symptoms relate to treatment seeking behaviour in Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)? How might a tendency to make somatic attributions influence an individual's cognitive representation of their illness once a diagnosis of IBS is established? In Study 1 attributions about symptoms were investigated in treatment-seekers and non treatment-seekers with IBS. Treatment-seekers had an increased tendency to make somatic attributions for both gastrointestinal symptoms and physiological symptoms characteristic of anxiety and depression, although they did not differ from non treatment-seekers in the severity of these symptoms or in their reports of psychological distress. Treatment-seekers also perceived themselves to be significantly less resistant to illness and to be significantly more likely to have poor health in the future than non treatment-seekers. In Study 2, 20 treatment seekers with chronic symptoms of IBS completed measures of mood and of the degree to which they viewed a range of symptoms as a part of their IBS. Physiological symptoms of anxiety and depression were seen as a part of IBS by a considerable proportion of the sample. Higher levels of depression were associated with an increased tendency to see physiological symptoms of anxiety and depression and even symptoms of colds as “a part of” IBS. It is concluded that a somatic attributional style may contribute both to initial treatment seeking for symptoms of IBS and the subsequent maintenance and exacerbation of the disorder once a diagnosis is established.

Based on the relationship between cognitive intrusions and auditory hallucinations established by Morrison and Baker (2000) and Morrison, Haddock and Tarrier (1995) the present study examines the possible effect of the repeated suppression of self-discrepant thoughts on the vividness of auditory illusions in a sample from a non-clinical population. Sixty-one participants were randomly assigned to a suppression of thoughts group (n = 31) or a focalization of thoughts group (n = 30) with different levels of self-discrepancy. After carrying out the task over a period of 48 hours, participants were presented with non-vocal auditory stimulation and asked to state whether they heard any verbalizations, and if so, how clearly. Results show how the repeated suppression of self-discrepant thoughts has a considerable effect on the vividness of illusions (F(1, 50) = 16.09; p < 0.001). The implications of these results for psychological therapy are analysed, with special emphasis on the importance of a research line based on acceptance.

Excessive responsibility has been proposed as a cognitive factor in obsessive-compulsive symptoms. In the present study the relationships of Salkovskis' measure of Responsibility Attitudes (RAS) (Salkovskis et al., 2000) with the total scale and the subscales of the PI-WSUR (Burns, Koertge, Formea, & Sternberger, 1996) measure of obsessive compulsive symptoms, as well as with a measure of depression (CES-D), were studied with a sample of 356 students (108 males and 248 females). As expected, the correlation between RAS and PI-WSUR was stronger than the correlation between RAS and CES-D, supporting the specific role of excessive responsibility in obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Among the subscales of PI-SWUR the strongest correlation of RAS was with Obsessional Thoughts About Harm to Self/Others (OTAHSO) and then with Checking. The OTAHSO was the only PI-WSUR subscale to show a significant partial correlation with RAS when other subscales and CES-D scores were taken into consideration. These results indicate that responsibility attitudes may play quite different roles in relation to different obsessive-compulsive symptom domains and that cognitive theory should take this more explicitly into account.

Early interventions for psychosis have recently received a great deal of interest. This is because research findings have indicated the importance of duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) in influencing future prognosis. Most interventions have so far centered around the early identification of first episode cases in an attempt to minimize the DUP. A further development of the early intervention strategy aims to identify high-risk cases prior to the onset of psychosis. Treatment of this at risk group could potentially prevent the onset of psychosis. In this paper we describe three cases from a randomized controlled trial designed to test the feasibility of a cognitive therapy intervention, to prevent the onset of psychosis. These are presented with formulations based on a recent cognitive model conceptualizing the onset of psychosis. Implications of this approach for future research and clinical practice are also discussed.

Patients referred with anger problems often do not attend for treatment. The aim of this study was to determine if group Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) was feasible. Patients referred for help with their anger were assessed, given 6 sessions of group CBT and re-assessed. Of 119 patients referred, 49 (41%) did not attend the initial appointment. Patients who attended for interview were invited to participate in the group CBT. Only 11 patients (9%) of those referred for therapy attended for the full course of CBT. Thirty-four patients (29%) were exposed to at least one session of CBT, while 66 patients (56%) did not attend for any therapy. Patients who attended for some or all of the CBT treatment reported reductions in the frequency and intensity of their anger outbursts. There was also a significant reduction in measures of their anger traits. It could be concluded that group CBT is an appropriate way to deliver this therapy to patients with anger problems, but it is clear that many of those referred are ambivalent about therapy and will not attend. Figures are given that will allow the planning of a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the difference between individual and group based CBT for patients with anger problems.

Developing staff competence in evidence-based interventions for people with a severe mental illnesses is now a government priority. However, evidence concerning the nature and effectiveness of the training programmes that are designed to develop competence is decidedly limited. The purpose of the present study was, therefore, to evaluate systematically a manualized and evidence-based staff training programme. This programme was delivered over a 17-day period, in a modular and experiential workshop format. Staff (mostly mental health nurses) were allocated to either an experimental group (N = 18) who received the training or to a waiting-list, control group condition (N = 7). Multi-dimensional process and outcome evaluations indicated that the staff training was delivered competently, followed an experiential learning approach, and led to significant improvement in the participants' targeted knowledge and skills. The staff were also satisfied with the acceptability and delivery of the training. Generalization to the participants' clients was reported to be very good, which was congruent with evidence of a supportive work environment, the organizational evaluation aspect of this study. While these learning outcomes are typical of such training, the degree of generalization is exceptional. Possible reasons for this favourable outcome are discussed, and conclusions are drawn for developing staff competence in ways that maximize the delivery of evidence-based practice.

Parent training is one of the most effective interventions for behaviour problems in young children. Most models of parent training are largely behavioural in content and have been developed from social learning theory. As with developments in treatments for adult disorders, it is proposed that parent training implementation and parental engagement may be improved by the introduction of a cognitive component. In particular, the use of the “thoughts, feelings, behaviour cycle” throughout parent training is proposed as a tool for challenging parental beliefs and attributions regarding children's behaviour and increasing parental uptake of the behavioural strategies that are taught. Preliminary findings are discussed with reference to clinical implications and future research.

Stimulus preference assessment (SPA) methods have been used to identify stimuli that might function as reinforcers. These methods typically assess social stimuli, such as hugs and verbal praise, tangible stimuli, such as toys and edibles, and high-frequency activities. Individual preferences for staff personnel, however, have not been assessed. In this study, the paired-stimulus assessment method was adapted to assess consumer preferences for different staff. Four adults with intellectual disabilities, two children with autistic-spectrum disorders, and one child with emotional difficulties participated in the present study. The results showed that preferences for different staff were identified for five of the seven consumers. These results provide support for the use of this procedure for identifying preferences for different staff. Directions for future research are discussed in terms of systematizing the assessment procedure, validation of results, and practical considerations regarding the assessment of preferences for staff personnel.

It has been proposed that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and so-called “prolonged duress stress disorder” (PDSD) have similar symptom profiles and differ only with regard to the presence or absence of a “traumatic event”. This single case experiment investigated whether PTSD can be distinguished from PDSD at the level of patho-physiology. The results indicate that both PTSD and PDSD imagery elicit physiological responses, but these are more readily and more strongly evoked by the former than the latter. These findings suggest that physiological response differences between PTSD and PDSD may be only a matter of degree. Implications are drawn for the psycho-physiological assessment of PDSD and recommendations for further research are made.