Vol VII, No. 2, 2007 5

7.2

Editorial

This is a special issue of the Journal of Cognitive and Behavioral Psychotherapies, dedicated to the memory of Dr. Albert Ellis, who has recently passed away. Therefore, as a tribute to him, we have reduced the number of articles in this issue (e.g., postponed those already accepted and /or in press) to include (1) a special article dedicated to his memory: Quo Vadis CBT? Trans-cultural perspectives on the past, present, and future of cognitive-behavioral therapies: Interviews with the current leadership in cognitive-behavioral therapies, interviews, which were taken right before his death and (2) only research article mainly related to [his] rational-emotive behavior therapy.

Quo Vadis CBT? Trans-cultural perspectives on the past, present, and future of cognitive-behavioral therapies: interviews with the current leadership in cognitive-behavioral therapies

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has emerged from the work of Dr. Aaron T. Beck and Dr. Albert Ellis. However, it has been extended well beyond the borders of the research groups of these two founders, all over the world, in Asia, Europe, South America, and the USA. The question, taking into account the unprecedented expansion of cognitive-behavioral therapy, is whether current cognitive-behavioral therapy is still a coherent and homogeneous approach. Therefore, we have interviewed the major representatives (presidents and/or board members) of major cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy organizations in Asia, Europe, South America, and the USA. Interestingly, both at a theoretical and practical level, the perspectives are quite coherent suggesting that the cognitive-behavioral approach is a robust approach with cultural adaptations, which do not affect the main architecture of the theory and practice of CBT.

Is repressive coping associated with suppression?

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the relationship between repressive coping and the use of suppression as a mental control strategy. Participants completed the State and Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and the Marlow-Crown Social Desirability Scale (Marlow-Crown) as a means of assessing repressive coping and the White Bear Suppression Inventory as a means of assessing suppression. Our results indicate a positive association between repressive coping and thought suppression as a strategy of managing unwanted thoughts and emotions. Clinical implications are discussed.

The profile of emotional distress; norms for the Romanian population

The Profile of Emotional Distress (PED) is an instrument elaborated to assess the subjective dimension of functional and dysfunctional negative feelings (affect). To our knowledge, this is the first self-report instrument, elaborated based on Albert Ellis’s binary model of distress, designed to focus solely on the subjective dimension of emotions. Reliability, validity, and normation studies for the Romanian population were conducted on a group larger than 700 participants. Internal consistency coefficients (Cronbach’s alphas) ranged from .75 to .94, which are considered good values for a self-report instrument.

A confirmatory factor analysis of the attitudes and belief scale 2

The aim of the present study was to empirically investigate the theoretical matrix on the basis of which the Attitudes and Beliefs Scale 2 (ABS2, DiGiuseppe et al., 1988) was developed. 300 undergraduates volunteered to complete the Romanian version of the ABS2 (ABS2-R, Macavei, 2002). A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted using Lisrel (8,72) framework (Jöreskog & Sörbom, 2004). The factor structure of the ABS2, derived on the three major theoretical criteria (evaluative processes, domains of content, and modality) was compared with the most viable factor structure resulted from a previous exploratory factor analysis (DiGiuseppe at al., 1989). The factor structure model found by DiGiuseppe et al. (1989) was the most plausible, followed by the two-factor structure model derived on modality. Future practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.