Difficulties in regulating feelings of shame is a risk factor for the onset and recurrence of mental health disorders. The present research investigated the impact of the individual differences in propensity to experience shame (or shame-proneness) on two emotion regulation strategies-perspective taking and positive reappraisal. A total of 228 participants, undergraduate students, were allocated randomly to one of the eight experimental conditions. The results revealed that for high shame-prone participants, the use of perspective taking, without positive reappraisal, led to a heightened experience of shame. In contrast, the combination of perspective taking and positive reappraisal led to reductions in shame among high shame-prone participants. The findings highlight the relationship between individual differences, and the separate and combined effects of affect regulation strategies on the experience of shame.

Aim: To provide insight into the characteristics and treatment outcomes of children and adolescents accessing outpatient Child and Youth Mental Health Services (CYMHS), and to explore whether outcomes differ by age, sex, and ancestry background. This information can guide how to optimize the treatment delivered at these services.Methods: An observational retrospective study was performed based on data from 3098 children and adolescents between age 5 and 18 who received treatment at Brisbane, Australia, community CYMHS between 2013-2018. Patient characteristics, service use, and clinician and parent rated Routine Outcome Measures (ROM) were extracted from electronic health records.Results: Anxiety and mood disorders were the most common mental disorders (37% and 19%). In 1315 children and adolescents (42%), two or more disorders were diagnosed, and the far majority (88%) had experienced at least one psychosocial stressor.The ROM scores improved between start and end of treatment with Cohen's d effect sizes of around 0.9. However, 50% of the children still scored in the clinical range at the end of treatment. Outcomes did not differ over gender and Indigenous status.Conclusions: Children and adolescents accessing CYMHS have severe and complex mental disorders as reflected by high rates of comorbidity, exposure to adverse circumstances and high symptom scores at the start of treatment. Despite the clinically relevant and substantial improvement, end ROM scores indicated the presence of residual symptoms. As this increases the risk for relapse, services should explore ways to improve treatment to further reduce mental health symptoms.

The Circle of Security-Parent DVD program (COS-P) is a widely used parenting intervention that is gaining popularity globally as it is currently being delivered across several continents.Despite the uptake of COS-P, there is limited research on its effectiveness for specific groups.Here we present a multi-site evaluation of a group delivery of the eight-week COS-P program to foster carers (n = 54) of 6-12 year-old children in an urban community as facilitated by community-based providers from a specialist child and youth mental health services (n = 2).Three measures, the Parent Stress Index, the Parent Child Relationship Inventory, and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, were used to assess functioning via a pre-post treatment design. Foster carers who participated in COS-P reported reductions in levels of emotional and behavioural difficulties for the children in their care. They also reported reductions in parentchild dysfunctional interactions and parental distress. Finally, program completion appeared to be associated with a reduction in foster carers' perceptions of their foster child as being difficult to take care of, and with lower levels of overall stress related to their role as a foster carer. These findings, and their implications for service delivery and future research, are discussed.