Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is the most effective nonpharmacological treatment for almost all mental disorders, especially anxiety and depression. The treatment is time limited, encourages self-help skills, is problem focused, is inductive, and requires that individuals develop and practice skills in their own environment through homework. However, most of those with mental health issues are unable to seek help because of factors related to treatment availability, accessibility, and cost. CBT is well suited to computerization and is easy to teach to nurses. In this article we describe outcome studies of computer-assisted CBT (cCBT), outline the current technologies available, discuss concerns and resistance associated with computerized therapy, and consider the role of nurses in using cCBT.

J Psychosoc Nurs Ment Health Serv. 2009 Jul;47(7):32-9. Stuhlmiller C, Tolchard B. School of Social Work, Office of Public Health Studies, University of Hawaii Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA. cstu@hawaii.edu

From Becoming Slender For Life by Roger Moore, PhD

There are many common roadblocks to weight release success and the biggest boulder of them all: a lack of true motivation.

I guess maybe I'll give this a try . . . I know I should lose weight . . . it would be better for my health. These are typical half-hearted reasons I hear to release weight. And then there are the reasons for failure like: "Oh, this it too hard." or "I'm too busy or stressed to do this now."

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