Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) has a small but growing database of support. One hundred and one heterogeneous outpatients reporting moderate to severe levels of anxiety or depression were randomly assigned to traditional cognitive therapy (CT) or to ACT. To maximize external validity, the authors utilized very minimal exclusion criteria. Participants receiving CT and ACT evidenced large, equivalent improvements in depression, anxiety, functioning difficulties, quality of life, life satisfaction, and clinician-rated functioning. Whereas improvements were equivalent across the two groups, the mechanisms of action appeared to differ. Changes in "observing" and "describing" one's experiences appeared to mediate outcomes for the CT group relative to the ACT group, whereas "experiential avoidance," "acting with awareness," and "acceptance" mediated outcomes for the ACT group. Overall, the results suggest that ACT is a viable and disseminable treatment, the effectiveness of which appears equivalent to that of CT, even as its mechanisms appear to be distinct.

This paper explores the potential for wiki-type open architecture software to promote and support collaborative learning through the use of studentcreated content. It delineates some of the affordances and constraints of wiki software as an open architecture that has the potential to facilitate collaborative learning through community-focused enquiry. It seeks to promote debate in this key area of development, and highlights some recent key contributions to the developing discourse on social software in what has been termed 'the architecture of participation'.

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Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) psychoeducation is increasingly offered in diverse cultural settings. As the literature offers theoretical arguments for why such information might be normalizing and distress-reducing, or might risk morbid suggestion of greater vulnerability, a two-sided hypothesis was proposed to examine the specific effect of PTSD psychoeducation. Participants of a trauma healing and reconciliation intervention in Burundi were randomized to conditions with and without PTSD psychoeducation, or to a waitlist control. Both interventions reduced symptoms more than the waitlist. Participants in the condition without psychoeducation experienced a greater reduction in PTSD symptoms relative to other conditions. Findings are discussed in relationship to intervention development for traumatic stress in nonindustrialized and culturally diverse settings.

Moral injury (MI) is gaining traction within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) as an essential construct for understanding an important dimension of suffering experienced by U.S. combat-deployed Veterans. A VA chaplain and a psychologist at the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center in Philadelphia co-facilitate a 12-week Moral Injury Group (MIG) to provide education about MI, the collective responsibility for the consequences of warfare, and related topics. A Community Ceremony in the VA chapel, immediately following Week 10, brings together VA staff, family, and friends of MIG Veterans as well as the wider society. MIG Veterans define MI and deliver a personal testimony about their MI and its effects. As Veterans’ burdens are shared by a community made more conscious of the realities of warfare, Veterans and civilians reconcile and Veteran identity shifts from that of a disabled patient to that of an adaptive leader and “prophet.” Data on the MIG has thus far been collected for purposes of quality improvement and measurement-based care. We report outcomes, through a case study of a MIG Veteran who shows decreases in suicidality, religious struggles, and depression, along with increases in posttraumatic growth, self-compassion, and life functioning. We also discuss plans for future research and development.