Journal of clinical psychology
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Gratitude practice can be a catalyzing and relational healing force, often untapped in clinical practice. In this article, we provide an overview of current thinking about gratitude's defining and beneficial properties, followed by a brief review of the research on mental health outcomes that result from gratitude practice. Following an analysis of our case study of the use of gratitude as a psychotherapeutic intervention, we present various self-strategies and techniques for consciously choosing and cultivating gratitude. We conclude by describing ways in which gratitude might be capitalized upon for beneficial outcomes in therapeutic settings.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
A pilot study and randomized controlled trial of the mindful self-compassion program.
The aim of these two studies was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) program, an 8-week workshop designed to train people to be more self-compassionate. ⋯ The MSC program appears to be effective at enhancing self-compassion, mindfulness, and wellbeing.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Specificity of effects of cognitive behavior therapy on coping, acceptance, and distress tolerance in a randomized controlled trial for smoking cessation.
Although there is extensive evidence of the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), it is less certain what potential mechanisms of change are specifically affected by CBT interventions. This study was intended to test the specific effects of CBT on compensatory coping skills, acceptance, and distress tolerance or persistence. ⋯ To the extent that CBT had specific effects on compensatory coping skills, it was for the participants who did not benefit clinically from the intervention. Much more theory-driven research on multiple candidate change mechanisms is needed to clarify how effective and specific treatments have their effects, for either patients in general or subsets of patients as in moderated effects.
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We conducted two studies to examine the dimensions, internal consistency reliability estimates, and potential correlates of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21; Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995). ⋯ Further investigations of the bifactor structure and psychometric properties of the DASS-21, specifically its incremental and discriminant validity, using known clinical groups are needed.
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Case Reports Comparative Study
Narcissistic pathology as core personality dysfunction: comparing the DSM-IV and the DSM-5 proposal for narcissistic personality disorder.
Narcissistic personality disorder and related concepts have a complex history and have been subject to extensive theoretical discourse but relatively little empirical research. An initial proposal for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fifth Edition (DSM-5) that suggested eliminating this disorder as a discrete personality disorder type met with considerable controversy that ultimately led to its reinstatement in subsequent proposals. Nonetheless, the DSM-5 proposal for personality disorders as a whole would involve a significantly different formulation of narcissistic personality from that described in DSM-IV-one that places a greater emphasis on shared deficits among all personality disorders that tap elements thought to fall on the narcissistic spectrum, such as deficits in empathic capacity. This article describes this revised formulation, and presents a case study that illustrates the similarities and differences in the DSM-IV and proposed DSM-5 portrayal of narcissistic issues and related clinical problems over the course of a particular treatment.