The role of self-compassion and shame in persons living with HIV/AIDS.

Despite the connection between self-compassion, shame, and HIV/AIDS health outcomes in the literature, little is known about the relationship among these variables. Shame and self-compassion work independently of each other and experiences of shame can impede one's ability to engage in self-compassionate responses, which could prevent future health declines. Although shame has been found to mediate the relationship between self-compassion and a variety of mental health outcomes, it has not been examined in the context of HIV/AIDS.

Validation of the Philadelphia Mindfulness Scale on experienced meditators and nonmeditators.

Objective: The Philadelphia Mindfulness Scale's (PHLMS) psychometric properties, theoretical assumptions, convergent validity, and relationships to symptom, happiness and social desirability measures were investigated in novel samples.

Methods: Internet-recruited general public samples of experienced meditators (n = 67, 21 male, 46 female, average age 50) and nonmeditators (n = 61, 28 male, 32 female, and 1 transgender; average age 41.9) were used.

Negative emotions and emotional eating: the mediating role of experiential avoidance.

Purpose: Emotional eating is a risk factor for eating pathology across the life- and weight-span. Research demonstrates that negative emotions are a precipitant of emotional eating, particularly among female college students. However, the underlying factors that explain this relationship are unclear.

A pilot study of a single-session training to promote mindful eating.

Context: Although researchers have not yet examined the applicability of mindfulness for weight-gain prevention, mindfulness training has the potential to increase an individual's awareness of factors that enable an individual to avoid weight gain caused by overconsumption.

Objective: The study intended to examine the effects of 1 h of mindfulness training on state mindfulness and food consumption.

Methods: The research team performed a pilot study.

The Dynamics of Self-Esteem in Cognitive Therapy for Avoidant and Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorders: An Adaptive Role of Self-Esteem Variability?

Self-esteem variability is often associated with poor functioning. However, in disorders with entrenched negative views of self and in a context designed to challenge those views, variable self-esteem might represent a marker of change. We examined self-esteem variability in a sample of 27 patients with Avoidant and Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorders who received Cognitive Therapy (CT).

Uncertain what uncertainty monitoring monitors.

Smith et al. present a model that they suggest may clarify aspects of the phylogenetic distribution of metacognition, based on observation of what they call uncertainty monitoring. Although they suggest that their model is supported by data collected using monkeys and dolphins, their interpretation that nonhuman animal behaviors parallel thought processes in humans may be unwarranted.

The assessment of present-moment awareness and acceptance: the Philadelphia Mindfulness Scale.

The purpose of this project was to develop a bidimensional measure of mindfulness to assess its two key components: present-moment awareness and acceptance. The development and psychometric validation of the Philadelphia Mindfulness Scale is described, and data are reported from expert raters, two nonclinical samples (n = 204 and 559), and three clinical samples including mixed psychiatric outpatients (n = 52), eating disorder inpatients (n = 30), and student counseling center outpatients (n = 78). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses support a two-factor solution, corresponding to the two constituent components of the construct.

Discontinuities and cognitive changes in an exposure-based cognitive therapy for depression.

Significant shifts or discontinuities in symptom course can mark points of transition and reveal important change processes. The authors investigated 2 patterns of change in depression-the rapid early response and a transient period of apparent worsening that the authors call a depression spike. Participants were 29 patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder who enrolled in an open trial of an exposure-based cognitive therapy.

Change is not always linear: the study of nonlinear and discontinuous patterns of change in psychotherapy.

The study of discontinuities and nonlinear change has been a fruitful endeavor across the sciences, as these shifts can provide a window into the organization of complex systems and the processes that are associated with transition. A common assumption in psychotherapy research has been that change is gradual and linear. The research designs and statistics used to study change often reflect this assumption, but some recent research reveals other patterns of change.