Psychotherapeutic interventions containing training in mindfulness meditation have been shown to help participants with a variety of somatic and psychological conditions. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is a meditation-based psychotherapeutic intervention designed to help reduce the risk of relapse of recurrent depression. There is encouraging early evidence from multi-centre randomized controlled trials. However, little is known of the process by which MBCT may bring therapeutic benefits. This study set out to explore participants' accounts of MBCT in the mental-health context. Seven participants were interviewed in two phases. Interview data from four participants were obtained in the weeks following MBCT. Grounded theory techniques were used to identify several categories that combine to describe the ways in which mental-health difficulties arose as well as their experiences of MBCT. Three further participants who have continued to practise MBCT were interviewed so as to further validate, elucidate and extend these categories. The theory suggested that the preconceptions and expectations of therapy are important influences on later experiences of MBCT. Important areas of therapeutic change ('coming to terms') were identified, including the development of mindfulness skills, an attitude of acceptance and 'living in the moment'. The development of mindfulness skills was seen to hold a key role in the development of change. Generalization of these skills to everyday life was seen as important, and several ways in which this happened, including the use of breathing spaces, were discussed. The study emphasized the role of continued skills practice for participants' therapeutic gains. In addition, several of the concepts and categories offered support to cognitive accounts of mood disorder and the role of MBCT in reducing relapse.

Models of the long-term effects of CSA should incorporate the effects CSA may have on subsequent retrieval for memory of non-abuse events. To improve treatment outcome, clinicians may have to directly address these deficits in therapy.

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It is becoming increasingly recognised that some women develop post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after childbirth. This study aimed to determine whether women experienced symptoms of PTSD and depression at 6-12 months postpartum; and what factors predict the development of psychopathology. This was a retrospective postal study of women who have given birth in the previous 6-12 months. A total of 102 women who delivered in hospital completed measures of PTSD, depression, perceptions of labour and delivery and provided clinical and demographic information at 6-12 months post-partum (mean59.5 months). A total of 3.9% showed questionnaire responses suggesting clinically significant levels of PTSD. A further 19.6% women reported sub-clinical symptoms. Regression analysis showed that higher depression scores, fear for the baby and unexpectedness of procedures during labour predicted higher scores on the PTSD measure. A total of 21.5% of women were depressed. A history of mental health problems and the presence of PTSD symptomatology predicted higher depression scores. This study demonstrates that a significant number of women continue to experience some level of PTSD and depression at 9.5 months post-partum. It is important to be aware that births involving unexpected obstetric procedures may precipitate PTSD symptoms in some women.

The study aimed to test the prediction, arising out of Abramson et al.'s (1978) reformulated learned helplessness model of depression, that depressed individuals have significantly different attributions about the causes of events from non-depressed individuals. No support was found for this hypothesis when comparing a depressed psychiatric sample with a matched normal group. Several hypotheses are offered to account for the failure to agree with previous studies.