Four articles examining methodological applications of exposure therapy and its limited dissemination were briefly reviewed. Methodological articles included those by Abramowitz et al., Gryczkowski et al., and Weiner and McKay, which addressed couple treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), modification of evidence-based anxiety…

Despite the well-established effectiveness of exposure-based cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) in the treatment of anxiety disorders, therapists have been slow to adopt CBT into their clinical practice. The present study was conducted to examine the utilization of psychotherapy techniques for anxiety disorders among community practitioners in a…

Specific phobias are among the most common anxiety disorders, especially in children. Unfortunately, a paucity of literature exists regarding the treatment of specific phobia in young children, despite the knowledge that traditional techniques (i.e., cognitive-behavioral therapy [CBT]) may not be practical. Therefore, the purpose of this article…

Eating disorders are among the most challenging disorders to treat, with even state-of-the-art cognitive-behavioral treatments achieving only modest success. One possible reason for the high rate of treatment failure for eating disorders is that existing treatments do not attend sufficiently to critical aspects of the disorder such as high…

Several articles have recently questioned the distinction between acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and traditional cognitive therapy (CT). This study presents a reanalysis of data from Zettle and Rains that compared 12 weeks of group CT with group ACT. For theoretical reasons, Zettle and Rains also included a modified form of CT that did…

In a randomized trial for children with social phobia (SP), Social Effectiveness Therapy for Children (SET-C; a treatment consisting of exposure and social skills training) and fluoxetine were more effective than pill placebo in reducing social distress and behavioral avoidance, but only SET-C demonstrated significantly improved overall social…

Many individuals with dementia and problem behavior are served in nursing home settings long before health issues necessitate constant medical care. Alternative community-based adult day health care programs allow individuals with dementia to remain in their home with their families at a substantially reduced cost; however, many adult day programs…

In January 2001, Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education accredited general psychiatry training programs were charged with the requirement to train residents in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) to a level of competence. Programs were given the responsibility to delineate standards for trainees, to determine measures of competence,…

Empirically supported treatments (EST) hold much promise in relieving psychological distress and dysfunction. However, various obstacles to effective training and clinical practice have truncated dissemination efforts. One such obstacle is the perceived applicability of EST procedures to raw world clinical practice. This article proposes a rubric…

Bridging the gap between lab and clinic has become a rallying cry for a generation of treatment researchers, and identifying and overcoming barriers to successful dissemination of best-practice treatment has become a major public mental health priority. In this review, the authors argue that a key limit to accomplishing this goal may be found back…

Suicide behavior is a serious clinical problem worldwide, and understanding ways of reducing it is a priority. A systematic review and meta-analysis were carried out to investigate whether Cognitive-behavioral therapies (CBTs) would reduce suicide behavior. From 123 potential articles, 28 studies met the entry criteria. Overall, there was a highly…

A randomized, controlled trial was conducted to examine the cost-effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) for panic disorder with agoraphobia. A total of 100 participants were randomly assigned to standard (n = 33), group (n = 35), and brief (n = 32) treatment conditions. Results show significant clinical and statistical improvement…

This pilot study examined the utility of acceptance-enhanced behavior therapy (AEBT) for trichotillomania (TTM) and chronic skin picking (CSP) and the impact of altering treatment sequence on overall treatment efficacy. Participants referred to a TTM and CSP specialty clinic were assessed by an independent evaluator within separate, nonconcurrent,…

This report presents results of a treatment for panic disorder with moderate to severe agoraphobia (PDA-MS) called sensation-focused intensive treatment (SFIT). SFIT is an 8-day intensive treatment that combines features of cognitive-behavioral treatment for panic disorder, such as interoceptive exposure and cognitive restructuring with ungraded…

Binge eating is a serious behavior problem exhibited by individuals diagnosed with binge eating disorder and bulimia nervosa. Binge eating is thought to be maintained by automatic negative reinforcement in the form of relief from negative emotional responding. Current treatments produce only moderate abstinence, perhaps because they do not attempt…