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Single case experimental design (SCED) has a long, well‐respected tradition in evaluating the effectiveness of behavioural interventions for people with learning disabilities and challenging behaviours. However, shift the focus to other psychological modalities (such as psychodynamic psychotherapy) or differing presenting problems (such as interpersonal problems) and the use of SCED methodologies is severely curtailed. This paper describes the application of SCED methodologies in the evaluation of treatment of three clients: the psychodynamic psychotherapy of hypochondriasis in an A/B design, psychodynamic psychotherapy of ambulophobia in an A/B design, and cognitive‐behavioural therapy of anger and aggression in a shifting criterion design. Visual and statistical analysis of the time series data revealed that the hypochondriasis and the anger cases responded to treatment, whereas the ambulophobia case showed some deterioration during the intervention. The cases are discussed in terms of the strengths and weaknesses of the methodologies applied and the relative merits of accruing SCED evidence in the evaluation of the plethora of psychological modalities now being made available to learning disabled clients.

People with learning disabilities have traditionally been denied access to a range of psychological therapies. Similarly, offenders with learning disabilities, particularly in prison settings, have largely been unable to access treatment strategies that are provided for offenders who do not have such disabilities. As a consequence these individuals are denied the opportunity to address their criminogenic needs and/or attend to their psychological welfare. This paper provides a brief exploration of the reasons and evidence for such practice, alongside the evidence that people with learning disabilities can successfully engage in psychotherapy. It is concluded that there is no evidence that would support the exclusion of people with disabilities from treatment options.

The results of empirical research on the patient–psychotherapist relationship have led to the fundamental conclusion that the therapeutic alliance is one of the key factors ensuring the positive outcomes of psychotherapy. The main aim of the present study is to determine what variables pertaining to the context of psychotherapy (type of treatment applied in accordance with the psychotherapist’s modality/orientation, type of disorder diagnosed in the patient) differentiated the alliance.

Participants for the main study were recruited from public and private psychotherapy offices across Poland. The working alliance was assessed based on 262 psychotherapist–patient dyads. The sample consisted of 428 participants. To assess the quality of therapeutic alliance, the author used the full version of the Working Alliance Inventory as adapted into Polish.

The results of analyses led to several basic conclusions. The study revealed a differentiating effect of type of psychotherapy on the quality of therapeutic alliance. Alliance quality was not differentiated by the type of disorder diagnosed in patients and treated in the psychotherapeutic process.

The results of analyses presented in this empirical study allowed for exploring the quality of the therapeutic alliance with contextual variables related to the psychotherapeutic process taken into account.

This case report seeks to describe successful treatment of erotomania using cognitive behavioural psychotherapy in concert with community support providers applying similar psychotherapeutic approaches.

A case report is presented illustrating successful treatment of an individual with erotomania and intellectual disability. Pharmacotherapy assessment suggested its ineffectiveness and medicines were slowly reduced and discontinued. Cognitive behavioural psychotherapy provided a venue to discuss personal issues and work on solutions. The community support system was enlisted to approach the problem using two main psychotherapeutic strategies: eliminate social attention for the delusion; and increase social relationships.

Cognitive behavioural psychotherapy working in collaboration with the community support system resulted in great improvement. Within three years, the individual returned to previous functioning with no symptoms of the delusional disorder.

This case study illustrates the successful treatment of erotomania using cognitive behavioural psychotherapy and engaging the community support system in applying directed psychotherapeutic strategies. Erotomania occurs in people with intellectual disability and must be recognized and treated. Ineffective pharmacotherapy was successfully reduced and discontinued within the context of appropriate therapeutic supports.

This paper is a shared endeavour between client (Caroline) and therapist (Anne) which aims to examine the use of poetry in the construction of meaning in Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy (CBP).

The paper is a narrative account of the early stages of therapy and the role poetry played in developing an effective therapeutic relationship and in shaping the CBP formulation, which guides treatment. The text is illustrated with examples of poetry and song lyrics that have been used to construct meaning in the therapy and the authors' own reflections on this process. The paper begins with a brief outline of the theoretical principles of CBP and then moves on to discuss the use of metaphor as part of the therapy and its role in the development of a productive therapeutic relationship.

The paper provides a reflective narrative from the perspective of client and therapist and invites the reader to consider making links between the science of evidence based practice and the artistry necessary and inherent to the practice of CBP.

The interacting cognitive subsystems model (Teasdale and Barnard, 1993) from cognitive science is introduced as a theoretical rationale to provide an account of the efficacy and effectiveness of poetry in this context. This is the first time an evidence based theory from cognitive science has been used as the basis for an account of the utility of poetry in constructing meaning in CBP.

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is being used increasingly with people with learning disabilities. The evidence base to support these developments comes from uncontrolled trials of CBT in a variety of psychological disorders and eight to nine controlled trials of CBT for anger (plus a single controlled study in depression). This paper reviews the evidence for the effectiveness of group‐based anger management and the acquisition of anger coping skills, and the effectiveness of individual anger treatment, with some discussion of the status of CBT for other indications and the difficulties of conducting outcome research in this area.

This study aims to evaluate and summarize the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and internet-based CBT (ICBT) interventions on relapse prevention and severity of symptoms among individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD). CBT is one of the most used and suggested interventions to manage MDD, whereas ICBT is a novel effective proposed approach.

The review was conducted following the preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis protocol. A comprehensive and extensive search was performed to identify and evaluate the relevant studies about the effectiveness of CBT and ICBT on relapse prevention and severity of symptoms among patients with MDD.

A total of eight research studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in this systematic review. RCT studies were conducted to assess and evaluate the effectiveness of CBT and ICBT on relapse prevention and severity of symptoms among patients with MDD. It has been found that CBT is a well-supported and evidently based effective psychotherapy for managing depressive symptoms and reducing the relapse and readmission rate among patients diagnosed with MDD. The ICBT demonstrated greater improvements in depressive symptoms during major depressive episodes among patients with MDDS. The ICBT program had good acceptability and satisfaction among participants in different countries.

Despite the significant findings from this systematic review, certain limitations should be acknowledged. First, it is important to note that all the studies included in this review were exclusively conducted in the English language, potentially limiting the generalizability of the findings to non-English speaking populations. Second, the number of research studies incorporated in this systematic review was relatively limited, which may have resulted in a narrower scope of analysis. Finally, a few studies within the selected research had small sample sizes, which could potentially impact the precision and reliability of the overall conclusions drawn from this review. The authors recommend that nurses working in psychiatric units should use CBT interventions with patients with MDD.

This paper, a review of the literature gives an overview of CBT and ICBT interventions to reduce the severity of depressive symptoms and prevent patients’ relapse and rehospitalization and shows that CBT interventions are effective on relapse prevention among patients with MDD. In addition, there is still no standardized protocol to apply the CBT intervention in the scope of reducing the severity of depressive symptoms and preventing depression relapse among patients with major depressive disorder. Further research is needed to confirm the findings of this review. Future research is also needed to find out the most effective form and contents of CBT and ICBT interventions for MDD.

CBT is a psychological intervention that has been recommended by the literature for the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD). It is a widely recognized and accepted approach that combines cognitive and behavioral techniques to assist individuals overcome their depressive symptoms and improve their overall mental well-being. This would speculate that effectiveness associated with several aspects and combinations of different approaches in CBT interventions and the impact of different delivery models are essential for clinical practice and appropriate selection of the interventional combinations.

This systematic review focuses on the various studies that explore the effectiveness of face-to-face CBT and ICBT in reducing depressive symptoms among patients with major depressive disorder. These studies were conducted in different countries such as Iran, Australia, Pennsylvania and the USA.

Mental health problems are increasing in society. To deal with these problems effectively, it is imperative that appropriate treatments are delivered. Some evidence suggests that patients often do not complete the full course of many psychotherapy treatments. The aim of this study was to estimate the average length of treatment for patients referred to the adult specialty of a large clinical psychology department. A stratified sampling strategy was chosen to obtain an unbiased and precise estimator of the average treatment length for the population of patients whose files had been closed in one calendar year (n = 3021). The stratified sampling mean estimator for the population mean was 3.9 appointments; standard psychotherapy treatments are often planned to be more than ten appointments. These results suggest that many patients are failing to receive the full treatment planned by mental health professionals. Perhaps more psychotherapy treatments need to be delivered in a smaller number of appointments. Stratified sampling could be used to estimate treatment duration in particular contexts, thereby allowing treatments to be designed to meet local needs.

This purpose of this paper is to outline how a combination of different psychological models may inform formulation and treatment, and the benefits for the client and the therapist of working in this way.

This is a single case study, describing an integrative approach in which psychodynamic ideas were used to inform cognitive-behavioural treatment.

The integrated approach reported here not only allowed the client to develop his skills in problem solving and taking different perspectives, but also to take a more active role in decisions about his life.

Integrative approaches may be of particular use for individuals who have not shown a full response to interventions based on a single theoretical model. Malan's triangles of insight provide a clear structure to psychodynamic formulation that is easily accessible to emerging psychodynamic practitioners.

Little previous research has described integrative approaches for psychological difficulties in people with an intellectual disability. The approach outlined in this study describes reasons for using an integrative approach, provides one example of how different models may be combined in practice, and describes ways in which the integrative approach enriched the intervention.

With the rise in the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders (ASD), affected adults may increasingly seek help from psychotherapists for problems managing daily life, including struggles with social functioning and self‐direction. These patients often have co‐morbid disorders for which there are evidence‐based protocols in the literature on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). This paper aims to provide guidance to psychotherapists serving these adults.

Recently, there has been no outcome research on CBT with adult ASD, but there is evidence from separate literatures on cognitive functioning in ASD and CBT for non‐autistic adults that can inform treatment for this population. Based on that evidence, this paper provides a psychotherapy model that can be applied to any patient with ASD who has enough verbal ability and interest to engage in regular sessions with a psychotherapist.

People with ASD process information in an idiosyncratic way, and their differences are likely at play in the social problems they report.

CBT approaches are designed to teach people how to monitor their own thoughts and perceptions in order to become more aware of interpretive errors and to target those that are associated with mood and anxiety problems.

Extra attention to skill development is needed in this population, especially in the broad categories of social and coping skills. This paper offers a discussion of the primary objectives of CBT with examples of techniques that are particularly helpful for patients with ASD, and concludes that with modifications and extra attention to skill‐building, these approaches can be successful with adults with ASD.