The validity of the Children's Depression Scale and of its parent-report version were examined on a sample of normal and clinically referred adolescents. The CDS and CDS-A discriminated adequately between clinical and non-clinical Ss, as well as between depressed and non-depressed. Only the CDS discriminated between depressed and 'sad', i.e. parental report did not discriminate between these two groups. A high correlation was found between the CDS and the Children's Depression Inventory. Internal consistency of the scale was found to be adequate. However, no support was found for the subscale structure of the CDS as proposed by its authors.

Recent advances have been made in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Cognitive behavioural techniques have been reported in controlled trials to be very effective in reducing arousal symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress disorder, such as sleep disturbance, hypervigilance, intrusive thoughts and flashbacks. It remains unclear from the literature, however, how well these treatment modalities can alleviate post-traumatic stress disorder where the predominant clinical features are associated with depersonalization and dissociative states. Depersonalization is evident in a significant proportion of individuals presenting with PTSD and yet does not appear to be amenable to exposure based therapies. A case study presented suggests methods through which depersonalization may be addressed within the therapeutic context.