The corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is one of the most important healthcare and societal challenges to have emerged in the last century. It may have effects on both physical and psychosocial health, but studies considering the impact on vulnerable populations, such as people with chronic pain, are needed. In this cross-sectional study, an online survey of relevant chronic pain domains, coping strategies, triggers and potential related variables was answered by 502 Spanish individuals with chronic pain. Participants were mainly women (88%) with longstanding chronic pain and moderate to high pain intensity and disability. The perception of pain aggravation and the most pain-related outcomes were observed. Contextual variables such as job insecurity, worries about the future, people cohabiting, being close to someone who had passed away, or being potentially infected with COVID-19 were related to worse outcomes. More than half the participants altered their pain management style (e.g., increased medication intake) and several changes occurred with respect to pain triggers (cognitions, feelings of insecurity and loneliness, and sleeping problems were more frequently reported as triggers during lockdown). Our preliminary results highlight the negative effects of lockdown on patients with chronic pain as well as the need to make available cost-effective and remotely accessible healthcare resources for counteracting them.

Objective. Some authors have suggested that verbal shaping is an active component in cognitive restructuring. The goal of the current study was to provide experimental evidence in support of the shaping hypothesis. Method. Three consecutively admitted adults with symptoms of anxiety and depression participated in the study. Participants underwent baseline, treatment comparison, crossover, and follow-up phases as part of an experimental single-case study. We selected two target irrational beliefs and praised either the client’s approximations to a terminal (more adaptive) class of verbalizations (differential reinforcement of approximations) or just the terminal class of verbalizations (terminal reinforcement). Results. Irrational beliefs exposed to differential reinforcement of approximations was a more effective approach to reducing irrational beliefs. Conclusion. The study provides experimental evidence in support of the verbal shaping hypothesis. Our findings suggest that it may be possible to enhance clinical outcomes by actively engaging in verbal shaping during client-therapist verbal interaction.

Cognitive restructuring is one of the most widely used techniques among psychologists of different orientations. However, there is a lack of clarity in what concerns its precise definition, functioning, effectiveness, and components. Objective: To obtain precise information on how psychotherapists use cognitive restructuring in their clinical practice in Spain. Method: A survey study was conducted following a descriptive quantitative methodology, with a cross-sectional design and a non-random sampling method. Three hundred and twenty psychotherapists responded to a questionnaire, created ad hoc, on cognitive restructuring. Results: Cognitive restructuring is widely used by therapists with different levels of experience, training, and following different psychotherapeutic approaches. Furthermore, it is applied to address a wide variety of psychological problems. There exist relevant differences in the use of the technique depending on the therapists’ level of experience. Conclusions: This study has shown, for the first time, how cognitive restructuring is applied in daily clinical practice. The main implications of these results are discussed, and new lines of inquiry are proposed.

Las cefaleas representan un problema socio-sanitario de grandes dimensiones dada su elevada prevalencia a nivel mundial y las importantes implicaciones que tiene en la calidad de vida. El estrés es un factor esencial en el desarrollo y mantenimiento de las cefaleas, problema que se presenta con frecuencia en estudiantes universitarios. En este estudio se analizan la prevalencia, frecuencia, duración, intensidad, diagnóstico, medicación y distribución de las cefaleas así como otras características epidemiológicas relacionadas con la incapacidad percibida y las estrategias de afrontamiento. Una muestra de 458 participantes compuesta por 306 estudiantes de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) y 152 personas ajenas a dicha universidad, completaron la Encuesta epidemiológica de cefaleas online, creada ad hoc para este estudio. Se encontró un elevado porcentaje de personas que presentan cefaleas frecuentemente (entre 5 y 20 veces al mes) y no están diagnosticadas (63,2%). Se comparan los resultados con datos obtenidos en otras poblaciones y se discute su impacto e implicaciones. Se resalta la necesidad de implementar programas de prevención y tratamiento psicológicos y multidisciplinares.

En el presente estudio se describe la tipología, las características sociodemográficas de los clientes y los tratamientos psicológicos aplicados en la Clínica Universitaria del CPA-UAM. La muestra está formada por 309 clientes, de los cuáles 255 finalizan el tratamiento. La mayoría de los clientes obtienen alta terapéutica (65,1%), con una duración de 17 sesiones de media. Los problemas clínicos más frecuentes son ansiedad (36,8%) y bajo estado de ánimo (13,3%). El tratamiento, realizado por psicólogos inexpertos bajo supervisión, logra una mejoría media significativa del nivel de funcionamiento de los clientes (28,26 puntos más en el EEAG, escala de 0-100) y una valoración media muy alta del éxito en el tratamiento por los clientes y los psicólogos (9,49 y 9,02 escala de 0-10, respectivamente). En conjunto, se discuten las implicaciones relativas a la práctica y la investigación clínica, y se destaca el papel de las clínicas universitarias como nexo entre ambos campos de la Psicología.