Objective-Effective treatments for adult OCD exist, but refusal and drop-out rates are high and treatments are not effective for all individuals who complete them. Thus, additional treatment options are needed. This study investigated the effectiveness of eight sessions of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for adult obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) compared to Progressive Relaxation Training (PRT).Method-79 adults (66% Female) diagnosed with OCD (M age=37, 89% Caucasian) participated in a randomized clinical trial of 8 sessions of ACT or PRT with no in-session exposure. The following assessments were completed at pretreatment, posttreatment, and three month follow-up by an assessor who was unaware of treatment conditions: Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), Beck Depression Inventory-II, Quality of Life Scale, Acceptance and Action Questionnaire, Thought Action Fusion Scale, and Thought Control Questionnaire. The Treatment Evaluation Inventory-Short Form was completed at posttreatment.Results-ACT produced greater changes at posttreatment and follow-up over PRT on OCD severity post=12.76, PRT pre=25.4, post=18.67,

Individuals suffering from generalized anxiety disorder hold a variety of beliefs about the possible benefits of their worrying. The present article suggests that these beliefs emerge from both short-term and long-term experiences with negative reinforcement of the worry process. Elements of treatment that target these beliefs within a general cognitive behavioral therapy approach for this disorder are briefly described, and a case transcript, exemplifying both the relevance of positive beliefs in GAD cases and the potential importance of modifying those beliefs, is presented.

The Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) was originally designed as a unifactorial measure of pathological trait worry. However, recent studies supported a two-factor solution with positively worded items loading on the first factor and reverse-scored items loading on a second factor. The current study compared this two-factor model to a negative wording method factor solution among college students. A method factor model with all PSWQ items loading on a single worry factor and reverse-scored items loading on a negative wording method factor provided as good a fit as the two-factor model. This method factor alone did not predict a generalized anxiety disorder diagnosis. Finally, the psychometric properties of an abbreviated scale containing only positively worded items were examined. The PSWQ appears to measure a single unitary construct, but response patterns differ between positively worded and reverse-scored items. Theoretical implications for pathological worry and assessment-related issues are discussed.

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