The purpose of this study was to test whether children and adolescents with anxiety disorders exhibit selective processing of threatening facial expressions in a pictorial version of the emotional Stroop paradigm. Participants named the colours of filters covering images of adults and children displaying either a neutral facial expression or one displaying the emotions of anger, disgust, or happiness. A delay in naming the colour of a filter implies attentional capture by the facial expression. Anxious participants, relative to control participants, exhibited slower colour naming overall, implying greater proneness to distraction by social cues. Children exhibited longer colour-naming latencies as compared to adolescents, perhaps because young children have a limited ability to inhibit attention to distracting stimuli. Adult faces were associated with slower colour naming than were child faces, irrespective of facial expressions in both groups, possibly because adults provide especially salient cues for children and adolescents. Inconsistent with prediction, participants with anxiety disorders were not slower than healthy controls at naming the colours of filters covering threatening expressions (i.e., anger and disgust) relative to filters covering faces depicting happy or neutral expressions.

Worry has been defined as a primarily cognitive process closely related to fear or anxiety. This definition is widely accepted by clinicians and researchers investigating worry and is often provided to research participants, especially to children. The present study aimed to empirically test the proposition that both adults and children conceptualise worry as a cognitive process, and that they differentiate it from fear on the basis of worry's relatively stronger association with thinking. Groups of 45 adults and 70 children completed three versions of a worry list questionnaire, reporting on the extent to which they worry about, are afraid of, and think about a list of negative outcomes. Regression analyses showed that in adults, thinking about a negative outcome had a significant unique association with worrying. In children, however, worrying was more strongly associated with fear ratings, especially in the case of physical outcomes. The data suggest that adults and children report on different concepts when they rate their worries via questionnaires. This difference may reflect developmental changes in the worry process itself, or developmental changes in the way individuals interpret and respond to worry list questionnaires. Follow-up studies using alternative methodologies are now needed to further clarify the results.

This study examined the efficacy of the Group Triple P-Positive Parenting Program with a Japanese population to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the program and the parenting skills taught in a crosscultural context. The study involved 50 Japanese parents living in Australia and used a randomised group comparison design with two conditions, Triple P group and a waitlist control group. The results revealed significant reductions in parent reported child behaviour problems, parental overreactivity and laxness, and parental conflict as well as increasing parental competence. The acceptability of the program was found to be high. Intervention effects and program acceptability in a Japanese context as well as limitations and future research are discussed.

Prior to CBT treatment, nineteen obsessive–compulsive washers were administered Jones and Menzies's (1998a) obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) Origins Questionnaire (OOQ) in an attempt to examine the relevance of associative learning pathways in the aetiology of the disorder. The open-ended nature of the questions allows for the distinction between classical conditioning events and traumatic events in which no identifiable unconditioned stimulus can be found. On the basis of subjects' responses on the OOQ, associative learning was shown to account for only five cases of OC washing. Of note, depression was shown to facilitate the onset of OCD in these individuals. Every subject who experienced a relevant indirect learning event and went on to develop OCD, revealed they were experiencing depression at the time. No relationship was found between the mode of OCD acquisition and subsequent response to treatment. Finally, the data revealed that subjects who identified washing/cleaning concerns at the onset of their disorder, as distinct from subjects who identified other OC concerns (e.g. checking, hoarding) at the onset of their disorder, scored similarly on current level of severity and degree of intractability.

This article describes a case study that demonstrates an innovative combination of predominantly behavioural techniques in the treatment of trichotillomania (TTM) preceded by social phobia. Outcomes are reported to 4-year follow-up. A master's qualified cognitive–behavioural nurse therapist administered the course of treatment over 1 year and followed the client for 4 years. A combination of exposure and response prevention, habit reversal and serial photography for TTM urges, exposure for social phobia, cognitive restructuring and problem solving were utilised. These treatments were provided sequentially and concurrently. Pre and posttreatment and repeated outcome measures were applied in three domains. The client received a total of 23 treatment sessions over 1 year and follow-up over 4 years. During treatment, discharge and follow-up improved outcomes in TTM and social phobia were achieved and maintained at 4 years. Benefits accrued beyond the presenting conditions to have a major positive impact on the client's life. Theoretical implications for the classification of TTM are discussed.