The present study examined the effect of season of the year on depression and other moods. Previous work, primarily cross sectional or retrospective in design and involving clinically depressed or seasonally affective disordered samples, has suggested that mood changes as a function of season. However, the literature also shows conflicting and/or inconsistent findings about the extent and nature of this relationship. Importantly, these prior studies have not adequately answered the question of whether there is a seasonal effect in nondepressed people. The present study employed a longitudinal design and a large sample drawn from a normal population. The results, based on those participants for whom mood measures were collected in each season, demonstrated strong seasonal effects. Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scores were highest in winter and lowest in summer. Ratings on scales of hostility, anger, irritability, and anxiety also showed very strong seasonal effects. Further analyses revealed that seasonal variation in BDI scores differed for females and males. Females had higher BDI scores that showed strong seasonal variation, whereas males had lower BDI scores that did not vary significantly across season of the year.

Patients' psychotherapy outcome expectations and credibility beliefs are associated with adaptive treatment processes and outcomes. However, little is known about correlates of such beliefs. We explored how participant characteristics relate to patients' baseline and early treatment beliefs. Data for this preliminary correlational study derived from 65 adult outpatients in psychotherapy-as-usual. Self-report measures assessed patient (demographics, general and mental health history, global and specific symptom severity, and diagnostic comorbidity), therapist (demographics and theoretical orientation), and dyad (demographic match) characteristics, and patients' baseline treatment outcome expectations and their post-Session 1 outcome expectations and credibility beliefs. Bivariate correlations indicated that patients' manic symptoms were positively associated with baseline expectations ( ϭ .292, p ϭ .002), while substance abuse symptoms ( ϭ Ϫ.209, p ϭ .038) and Axis II comorbidity (r ϭ Ϫ.257, p ϭ .045) were negatively associated with such expectations. Patients' psychotic symptoms were positively associated with post-Session 1 expectations ( ϭ .221, p ϭ .035) and global functioning was positively associated with post-Session 1 credibility beliefs (r ϭ .343, p ϭ .016). Multivariate regression indicated a positive and negative association, respectively, between manic symptoms and baseline expectations (␤ ϭ .28, p ϭ .027) and substance abuse symptoms and baseline expectations (␤ ϭ Ϫ.33, p ϭ .032) when accounting for patient global symptom severity and Axis II comorbidity. Results highlight several associations between participant characteristics and patients' presenting and early treatment beliefs, suggesting the importance of attending to such characteristics in case formulation, treatment planning, and treatment implementation.

Despite increased attention to multiculturalism in clinical practice, clinicians frequently struggle with applying multicultural guidelines offered by the American Psychological Association and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; DSM-IV). The authors provide specific tools and practical methods for assessing culture during intake procedures and argue for the integration of social identity assessment into the DSM-V interview. We begin by evaluating the DSM-IV's cultural formulation guideUnes, and we provide 4 cultural principles regarding patients' and clinicians' social identities, intersectionality, and the cultural context of therapy. We encourage clinicians to consider privilege, oppression, and intersectionality in all clinical exchanges. We then evaluate the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders, Clinician Version (SCID-CV) Overview to identity biases and neglected social identities, and we present the Patient Social Identity Assessment. Next, we present a dining module enabling clinicians to utilize this measure without reifying problematic trends in cultural formulation and underscore the importance of therapist self-assessment of privileged identities. We conclude with guidelines when integrating social identity assessment into intake procedures across treatment settings.

The psychology and counseling literature contains numerous discussions of the need for psychotherapists to be culturally sensitive, including descriptions of the requisite skills and behaviors that affect the therapeutic alliance. In addition, a number of articles on diversity mention the need for multiculturally friendly offices and list some general guidelines. However, the literature contains no research, or even detailed guidelines, on the critical physical elements to consider in designing a multiculturally friendly office. This article describes the multicultural design process and specific physical design criteria that were developed and implemented in a not-for-profit mental health clinic. Examples are provided of specific opportunities for improvement identified and how these were implemented. It is suggested that future research focus on identifying the specific physical elements that are critical in creating a multiculturally friendly psychotherapy office, and the relationship of these elements to psychotherapy outcomes.

We comment on 6 clinical cases involving the application of one or more elements of Motivational interviewing (MI). First, we share our general reactions to MI and the case material. Second, we reflect briefly and specifically on each case illustration, highlighting the compelling flexibility and clinical utility of the MI spirit and its principles. Third, we offer several reflective themes across the cases, including convergences between MI and other psychotherapies, and unanswered clinical questions related to MI, its effectiveness, and its change mechanisms. Finally, we advance a context-responsive psychotherapy integration for which MI might effectively serve as the bellwether.