Recent developments in the understanding, assessment and treatment of suicidal behaviour are reviewed. The accumulated social and demographic knowledge of suicidal populations has proved to be clinically useful in shaping the general level of concern, but at the individual level an understanding of the psychological processes involved in suicidal behaviour is required. Studies examining psychological processes involved in suicidal behaviour is required. Studies examining psychological processes in parasuicidal groups have revealed a number of deficits, including poor interpersonal problem solving, hopelessness about the future, and reduced ability to regulate affect. Research has also begun to look at some of the processes underlying these deficits, such as over-general retrieval of autobiographical memories and reduced anticipation of specific positive experiences. The clinical picture is now more optimistic, with therapies, such as Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, which focus on using problem solving strategies with those clients who are most vulnerable to repeat parasuicide episodes, producing demonstrable delays in parasuicide and reduced risk of repetition. The importance of the relationship between research and clinical practice is emphasized.

Two experiments are reported in which patients who resided on continuing care psychogeriatric wards were exposed to an operant conditioning procedure. In the first experiment, the subjects were three female patients, all of whom were suffering from severe dementia. For two of the subjects, extended acquisition training was required before evidence of learning was found. Responding under fixed interval (FI) schedules of three different durations was well maintained by the third subject. Evidence of temporal control was found. The second experiment was a partial replication of the first. The subjects were two male patients who were suffering from mild to moderate degrees of dementia. They were exposed to FI schedules of three different durations. Responding was maintained for the 16 sessions of the study. Procedural modifications as well as some broader implications of these results are noted.

The study set out to evaluate an individual parent training programme implemented by nursery staff. The experimental group was made up of eight mothers and their pre-school children. A matched group of nine mothers underwent group parent training, and a control group (N = 11) were given simple reading material on child development and took part in a discussion group. Pre- and post-test measures on maternal self-esteem (SES), parental attitude towards children (PAS), and knowledge of behavioural principles (KBP) were completed by mothers in all groups. A pre-school behaviour checklist (PSBC) was administered by staff on all children at the nursery whose mothers took part in the project. Results indicated a significant improvement pre- to post-test: (1) in PAS and KBP for the mothers who had undergone individual parent training; and (2) in PAS, SES and children's scores on the PSBC for those who took part in the group training. Whether or not mothers were living on their own was found to be a confounding variable on two of the measures. The implications of improved maternal self-esteem in the group, but not the individual setting, and an increase in knowledge in the individual, but not the group setting, are also discussed.

Forty-nine obsessive-compulsive ritualizers had clomipramine and live exposure in a randomized controlled design. The effect on outcome of pre-treatment expectations from psychological and from drug treatment and of subsequent compliance with exposure instructions was studied. Exposure instructions led to greater pre-treatment expectations than did anti-exposure instructions, but this did not affect outcome, suggesting that the effect of exposure was not due to expectation. Initially, more ill patients expected more from drug but improved less. Compliance with psychological treatment did not predict better improvement, but most patients were fairly compliant.

A training course designed to prepare staff to run stimulation groups for people with profound learning disabilities is described and evaluated. Nursing staff attending the day workshop improved significantly more than a control group in their attitudes, knowledge and skills (a simulated performance test) in relation to appropriate stimulation for this group. A profile of pre-training attitude, knowledge and skill is provided for different staff groups and it is shown that, prior to the workshop, nursing assistants had significantly more negative attitudes to such activities than trained staff or those in training. While each staff group improved on attitude and knowledge tests, nursing assistants alone failed to show post-training skill improvements. The practical implications of the results are discussed and the usefulness of the three measures assessed.

Concern about body weight and shape is commonly allied with dysfunctional self-concepts and eating behaviour. When provided with group therapy structured around written handouts addressing these problems, women referred for weight control have improved in their self-esteem, assertiveness, attitudes to body size, control of emotional eating, self-efficacy about weight and susceptibility to cyclic dieting, improvements which were maintained to follow-up. The present study examined the effects of the handouts alone on 27 women who actively attempted to control their weight. Relative to a sample matched for initial scores on the target variables, reported incidences of emotional eating and vigour of dieting were significantly reduced over a period of one year in the sample who received the bibliotherapy. Also, perceived body size, weight assertiveness, self-efficacy about weight control and body mass index all moved in the predicted direction, relative to controls, but not to a statistically significant degree. Such bibliotherapy on eating and shape is recommended as an adjunct to group or individual psychotherapy or to initiate change in clients waiting for professional counsel.

Obessional-compulsive neurosis is quite a rare phenomenon with a prevalance of about 3% in all neurotics and 0.05% in the general population (de Silva, 1987). The form an obsessional-compulsive neurosis takes varies tremendously and its aetiology is not always easily identifiable. Salkovskis and Westbrook (1989) highlight the importance of a thorough assessment in distinguishing obsessional thoughts and “cognitive rituals”.

This paper reports an exacerabation of health fears in response to cognitive modification in a patient with Somatoform Disorder (NOS). The results of the intervention present interesting theoretical implications for the conceptualization of cognitive events in clinical disorders and those characteristics that may contribute to treatment failure.