We begin our new Insights series by discussing how best to handle client attraction to their therapists with Ana Rabasco, author of Well, That Was Awkward: When Clients Develop Romantic Feelings for Therapists.

The Urges – Self-Monitoring Record worksheet is designed to help clients capture information about their urges and cravings. It includes columns to record information about: situational context; focus and intensity of urges; cognitive, emotional, and physiological reactions accompanying urges; responses to the urges; and consequences of those actions.

Our ‘Cognitive Distortions’ series is designed to help clients and therapists work more effectively with common thinking biases. Each handout includes a combination of unique psychoeducation and practical elements. This week we’re releasing three Arabic translations from this series: All-Or-Nothing Thinking, Arbitrary Inference, and Catastrophizing.

Cognitive reappraisal is an effective way to reduce emotional distress and is a core component of CBT. What can therapists do to make this intervention more effective? In a fascinating study recently published in Behaviour Research and Therapy, Allison Metts and Michelle Craske asked participants to reinterpret stressful images, either on their own or imagining they were being helped by a supportive individual. Interestingly, cognitive reappraisal with imagined social support appeared to be more effective. These findings suggest that incorporating the perspectives of supportive individuals helps clients develop alternative thoughts: something that many CBT therapists already do, but which hasn’t been tested until now.

Compassion focused therapy (CFT) is a popular transdiagnostic approach to understanding and treating mental health difficulties. In this excellent position paper, Charlie Heriot-Maitland discusses CFT applied to psychosis, including its theoretical foundation and research gaps. Drawing on evolutionary models such as social rank and attachment theory, CFT aims to help people with psychosis notice when threat-focused patterns are active and shift to compassionate patterns. While CFT for psychosis has a strong theoretical basis, outcome research is still emerging. Future challenges include distinguishing CFT for psychosis from other modalities and the need for randomized controlled trials (RCTs).