Binge eating disorder (BED), a chronic condition characterized by eating disorder psychopathology and physical and social disability, represents a significant public health problem. Guided self-help (GSH) treatments for BED appear promising and may be more readily disseminable to mental health care providers, accessible to patients, and…

Trichotillomania is a behavioral problem, and is often referred to as a habit disorder, but it is important to consider the cognitive and emotional components of the behavior. Current treatment recommendations include a traditional behavioral approach (Habit Reversal Training; HRT) combined with an approach that addresses the cognitive and…

There is a need for treatment interventions to address the high prevalence of disordered eating throughout adolescence and early adulthood. We developed an adolescent-specific manualized CBT protocol to treat female adolescents with recurrent binge eating and tested its efficacy in a small, pilot randomized controlled trial. We present lessons…

In this article, we present evidence that disorders of attention are present in wide range of psychological disorders, and that the appropriate assessment and treatment of these attention difficulties can be an important adjunct to traditional therapeutic approaches. We review approaches to attention training in some detail and discuss how…

We provide a detailed description of the clinical application of brief cognitive-behavioral therapy (BCBT) for anxious youth. A rationale for the development of BCBT is presented, followed by a description and discussion of the 8 sessions of the treatment. Mike, a 7-year-old youth with anxiety disorders, is used to illustrate the inner workings of…

The recommended treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) incorporating exposure and response prevention (ERP), which is effective for approximately 50% of patients. However, there has been little advance in treatment outcomes since the introduction of ERP in 1979. It has been suggested that some…

The examination of treatment failure has substantial value in advancing psychological practice as illustrated by the articles in this special issue. Treatment failure is not well defined and includes at least two independent phenomena: nonresponse and deterioration. After discussing the important distinction between nonresponse to treatment and…

Female juvenile offenders exhibit high levels of anger, relational aggression, and physical aggression, but the population has long been ignored in research and practice. No anger management treatments have been developed specifically for this population, and no established anger management treatments are empirically supported for use with…

Cognitive and biobehavioral coping skills are central to psychosocial therapies and are taught to facilitate and improve exposure therapy. While traditional coping skills are aimed at controlling maladaptive thoughts or dysregulations in physiology, newer approaches that explore acceptance, defusion, and values-based direction have been gaining…

Insomnia is associated with significant morbidity and is often a persistent problem, particularly in older adults. It is important to attend to this complaint and not assume that it will remit spontaneously. In many cases, unfortunately, insomnia remains unrecognized and untreated, often because it is presumed that insomnia is an inevitable…

This is the introductory article to a special series in Cognitive and Behavioral Practice on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Instead of each article herein reviewing the basics of ACT, this article contains that review. This article provides a description of where ACT fits within the larger category of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT):…

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) has been shown to have broad applicability to different diagnostic groups, and there are theoretical reasons to consider its use with clients with chronic mental health problems. We report an innovative treatment development evaluation of ACT for a heterogeneous group of "treatment-resistant clients" (N =…

Applied relaxation (AR), which involves noticing early signs of anxiety and responding with a relaxation response, is an empirically supported treatment for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). However, research on hypothesized mechanisms of AR (e.g., reduced muscle tension) has been mixed, making it likely that additional mechanisms are…

The literature examining trauma among older adults is growing, but little is known about the efficacy of empirically supported interventions for PTSD within this population. Clinical writing on this topic often implies that cognitive-behavioral treatments may be ineffective or inappropriate for older adults with PTSD given physical and/or…

Comorbidity in clinical youth populations is more the rule than the exception, yet few established guidelines exist to help practicing clinicians manage complex diagnostic profiles. The current paper reviews efforts within the treatment development literature to handle comorbidity in depressed and anxious children and adolescents, including…