A research team from New York University and the University of Texas at Austin demonstrated that timing is critical in extinguishing a fear response – and this has groundbreaking potential for the treatment of phobias, anxiety disorders and posttraumatic stress.  Evidently, there’s a brief window of opportunity for rewriting painful emotional memories immediately after re-activating them, when the imprinted memory becomes labile and open to change.

Simple fear was created in 65 subjects by giving them a mild electrical shock on the wrist one third of the time when shown a colored square appear on a computer screen (Earlier research in conditioned learning shows that this is the frequency of ‘punishment’ that creates a lasting association).

Researchers from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada reviewed the literature to investigate whether Eastern techniques, such as mindfulness, acupuncture or yoga might be used to improve unsatisfying sexual experiences in women (problems with desire, arousal or orgasm).

The search revealed only two empirical studies of mindfulness, two of acupuncture, and one of yoga in the treatment of sexual dysfunction.  These limited results revealed that mindfulness significantly improved several aspects of sexual response and reduced sexual distress in women with sexual desire and arousal disorders. 

Researchers from Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust in Wales, UK, explored the impact of various interventions when they are delivered within 3 months of the traumatic event.

The study identified 25 randomized, controlled trials of multiple-session psychological treatments aimed at preventing or reducing traumatic stress symptoms in individuals within 3 months of exposure to a traumatic event.  The studies examined a range of interventions. 

Researchers from Monash University in Victoria, Australia, compared Panic Online (PO), an internet-based Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) intervention, to best-practice, face-to-face CBT, for people with panic disorder with or without agoraphobia.

Researchers from the Department of Psychobiology at the Universidade Federal de São Paulo in Brazil looked at the efficacy of Siddha Samadhi Yoga, a program of meditation and pranayama (breathing exercises).  Twenty-two volunteers with anxiety complaints (Median age = 42.8 yr., Standard deviation = 10.3) were assigned to two groups: 14 attended the yoga group, and 8 attended a waiting-list or control group.

Subjects were evaluated before the intervention and 1 month after it on the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory, Tension Feelings Self-evaluation Scales, and the Well-being Self-evaluation Scales. 

Researchers from University Hospital of Erlangen in Bavaria, Germany conducted a randomized trial comparing the efficacy of a group cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) intervention, designed for the treatment of compulsive buying disorder, to a wait list control (WLC) group.

In a small pilot study, researchers from the Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, examined the efficacy of Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) for Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD).  Cognitive behavioral therapy alone rr5has been found effective for GAD, but can leave residual symptoms.  This MBCT intervention added a mindfulness component, based on the methods of Jon Kabat-Zin, along with more standard cognitive strategies, in a group context, to see if this combination might yield greater efficacy.

Researchers from Hospital Universitario de Canarias, Spain., examined the efficacy of treating agoraphobia with virtual reality techniques as an alternative to the in-vivo exposure component of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy.

Twenty-seven patients with agoraphobia were randomly distributed into two groups of psychoactive drugs (paroxetine and venlafaxine, AKA  Paxil and Effexor) and into two cognitive- behavioral procedures (with or without exposure to VRET). Seven virtual situations were used.

Researchers from the Psychology Research Laboratory at San Giuseppe Hospital in Verbania, Italy, performed a meta-analysis of studies evaluating the effectiveness of relaxation training for anxiety.