The present case report describes the process of treatment that included both values work and behavioral activation. A female client with postpartum depression and subsequent major depressive disorder participated in 22 sixty-minute treatment sessions. Values work was conducted in session 2. After that, a behavioral activation approach was provided. The activation plan and homework assignments were decided according to the client's values which had been listed through values work. The results indicated that her Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) score decreased from 29 to 13, her State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-Trait (STAI-T) score decreased from 58 to 38, and her Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II (AAQ-II) score increased from 19 to 30, which mean improvement of her depression, trait anxiety, and psychological flexibility, respectively. In addition, the frequency of a valued action, cooking, increased from 0.7 to 2.1 meals per day. These results suggest that a combination of values work and behavioral activation may have been effective for this client with postpartum depression.

The present studies examined effects of experiential avoidance on stress responses in speech-making situations. In Study 1, the participants (146 undergraduates; 61 men, 85 women) completed the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire for Japanese version (AAQ-J), which measures experiential avoidance. Then, they were asked to imagine a neutral scene and a speech scene, and to rate their own mood regarding each scene. The results revealed a significant relationship between the scores on the AAQ-J and negative mood when imagining the speech scene. In Study 2, participants (18 undergraduates; 10 men, 8 women) with high speech anxiety as assessed by the Audience Anxiety Scale were assigned either to an acceptance-based instruction group or to a control group. Each participant was exposed to baseline and treatment speech sessions. Before each treatment speech session, participants in the acceptance-based instruction group received instructions aimed at encouraging them to use acceptance strategies, whereas those in the control group did not receive any instructions. The results suggested that the acceptance-based instructions were effective in reducing subjective speech anxiety. The results were discussed in terms of their possible implications for a relationship between experiential avoidance and stress responses. Also, future directions for research and clinical interventions for experiential avoidance were described.

The perception of control over anxiety is a generalized psychological vulnerability factor within the anxiety disorders. Theoretical studies have suggested that effects of perception of control over anxiety on social anxiety are mediated by safety behavior. However, the present authors were unable to find any published empirical research that had examined how 3 types of safety behavior, i.e., active behavior, restricting/limiting behavior, and hiding physical symptoms, mediate the relations between perception of control over anxiety and social anxiety symptoms. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between these components by use of mediation analyses. The participants were 174 undergraduate students. The results indicated that the effects of perception of control over anxiety on social anxiety symptoms were partially mediated by all 3 types of safety behavior. In conclusion, the present study provides support for the importance of perception of control over anxiety and 3 types of safety behavior when decreasing social anxiety symptoms.

In the present study, in order to increase and enhance the ability of a high school student with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to leave his home, a procedure including successive approximation and in vivo exposure was provided to him. Prior to the study, he had feared going out and refused to go to school. The step-by-step procedure was implemented as his homework with the help of his mother. After the student dropped out of school, career guidance was also provided. The step-by-step procedure appeared to have enabled the student to go out and to have resolved the anxiety and fear associated with doing so. Moreover, the intervention's effects generalized to other settings. The student has attended a different school for 2 years. Problems did not reoccur during the following 3 years. Implications, limitations, and directions for future research are presented.

The present study reports a behavior therapy intervention for a patient with neurocognitive dysfunction who had difficulty transferring to a wheelchair in daily life and with his learning behavior. The participant was a male in his thirties. He had unilateral space neglect and impaired attention because of a right hemisphere cerebral infarction. After 1 month of training, there was a dissociation between his daily ability and his maximum ability to transfer to his wheelchair. This difficulty in learning behavior appeared to be caused by his neurocognitive dysfunction. Behavior therapy was then used to train preparation for transferring to his wheelchair. The intervention design was multiple baseline across behaviors, with the target behavior separated into 4 parts. The intervention period was also separated into 4 parts by target behavior. The ward staff, except for the intervention therapist, evaluated the participant's behavior using error counts. Using 3 types of prompts, the prompts were gradually decreased after a certain period. About 5 weeks later, the participant was able to transfer to the wheelchair, and achieved self-reliance. These results suggest that behavior therapy might useful in the rehabilitation of patients who have had neurocognitive dysfunction. The procedures can be applied widely.