As I am sure you cannot have failed to notice, the Journal has taken onquite a different look, thanks to Cambridge University Press. In addition,there have been changes in the Editorial Advisory Board. We welcome some newmembers, and say farewell and thanks to some old friends. Members of the newEditorial Board are going to be very directly involved in advising theeditors and assistant editors in matters relevant to particular issues andgeographical regions.

A recent cognitive model of social phobia (Clark & Wells, 1995) suggested that negative self-images may play an important role in maintaining the disorder. To investigate this suggestion, 30 social phobics and 30 non-patient controls were given a semi-structured interview which focused on spontaneously occurring images. Social phobics were significantly more likely than controls to report experiencing images when anxious in social situations. In addition, social phobics’ images were significantly more negative and significantly more likely to involve seeing oneself from an observer’s perspective. Implications of these findings for the understanding and cognitive treatment of social phobia are discussed.

Recent discussion has emphasized the importance of assessments of clinical significance of outcome in treatment outcome studies. Several methods exist to assess clinical significance, one of which is the use of global ratings of outcome. This study reports the use of such measures in a treatment outcome study investigating pharmacological and psychological treatments for panic disorder and agoraphobia in primary care. Outcome is reported in terms of global ratings of symptom severity and of change in symptoms following treatment, completed by the psychologist, referring General Practitioners (GPs) and patients. Treatments involving cognitive behaviour therapy showed greater efficacy than those employing pharmacological treatments alone. Considerable agreement was demonstrated between psychologist and patient ratings. Such agreement was much less obvious for ratings completed by referring GPs. Possible reasons for this are advanced.

Research aimed at identifying genes contributing to the aetiology of psychological disorders is in progress. This raises the possibility that genetic testing for such genes might become available. In this paper the possible psychological consequences of genetic testing for psychological disorders are examined. It is proposed that genetic testing may cause psychological and behavioural reactions that actually increase the person’s risk of developing a psychological disorder or may maintain existing problems. It is also suggested that cognitive-behavioural models may be able to aid prediction of some of the likely consequences of testing and identify people who are likely to react in particularly negative ways to news of their genetic risk. If genetic tests for psychological disorders are developed, it is important that research is carried out into the psychological and behavioural effects of testing and ways of minimizing adverse effects, before such tests become widely available.

Social psychological models of reasoned action, and behavioural models of verbal behaviour, predict that caregiver beliefs and attributions partially determine their responses to challenging behaviours. The present study examined the relationship between special educators’ causal attributions and the underlying function of challenging behaviours in children with learning disabilities. Sixty special school staff were presented with two questionnaire vignettes describing attention seeking and task avoidance behaviour. They were then asked to identify the likely causes of the behaviours. Only a small proportion of participants made accurate causal attributions about the two examples of challenging behaviour. In addition, staff experience had little effect on the accuracy of attributions. Implications for future research, for staff training, and analysis of challenging behaviours are discussed.

The colour-naming performance of a group of hospitalized anorexic women (N=12) was tested on initial admission, after 1 week of treatment and again after 12 weeks of treatment. Compared to a control population of non-clinical females (N=18), the anorexics colour-named both food and body shape words more slowly than their neutral matched words; although colour-naming times, in general, were slower for anorexics. The size of this colour-naming impairment decreased as a function of weight gain and improvement in psychopathology, although colour-naming times for food words improved more quickly than for body shape words for both clinical and non-clinical subjects. The results of correlational analysis between colour-naming times and Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI-2) responses lead to the conclusion that colour-naming performance for body shape, rather than food words, provides a clearer index of improvement in psychopathological status in anorexia nervosa.

Individual cognitive behavioural interventions for psychosis are rapidly developing and are being shown to be effective. This paper examines the application of these interventions on a group basis. The nature of the group, treatment outcome and potential benefits of using this format are described. After the group intervention, all patients were less depressed, most had higher self-esteem and greater knowledge of schizophrenia, and half the group felt better able to cope with their symptoms. Patients reported feeling less isolated and two of the four group members stated a preference for group over individual treatment.

Hospitalized older adults with dementia often have few opportunities for social interaction and psychological stimulation. Their psychological functioning is affected by the dementing illness, sensory impairment and the effects of living in an institutional environment. The adverse effects of sensory deprivation may be particularly relevant for this client group. Using a multiple single case design, we evaluated the effects of individual sensory stimulation sessions on four elderly patients with dementia. All were living on a hospital continuing care psychiatric ward. Detailed behavioural observations were made before, during and after sessions to assess patients’ responses. Adaptive functioning and wellbeing were also investigated. Results indicated that the intervention led to observable changes in levels of interaction, active looking and interest. The effects were transitory with the exception of active looking, which endured following the session. Adaptive behaviours also improved, though there was no change in wellbeing. The study indicates that sensory stimulation is a valuable therapeutic intervention with this client group.

The present study examined whether trait anxiety as indexed by the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) can be employed as a predictor of behaviour therapy outcome. Thirty-six female spider phobic patients completed the STAI trait anxiety scale, and then received one 2.5 hours session of exposure in vivo treatment. Therapy outcome was evaluated by means of standardized self-report measures and a behavioural approach test. Results showed that STAI trait anxiety substantially contributed to therapy success on all outcome measures: the higher the trait anxiety scores, the less patients profited from behaviour therapy.