Martijn van Teffelen

Chapter 1 16 In chapter 6 we develop and compare the efficacy of an eight-session CBM-I intervention to an active control condition in two studies. The first study serves as a pilot trial to establish the basic working mechanism of CBM-I (i.e., whether our intervention alters biases in the desired direction) followed by a larger trial in people with clinical levels of hostility where the additional impact on hostility outcomes is assessed. It is expected that CBM-I results in a greater increase in benign interpretations and a greater reduction in HIB compared to active control training (AC). It is also expected that CBM-I leads to greater reductions in hostility, including aggressive behavior. Moreover, we pioneer to explore the carry-over effects of CBM-I on subsequent psychotherapy and expect increased quality of working alliance with participant’s therapists. Finally, chapter 7 presents an overview and integrative discussion of the performed studies in this thesis, including research and clinical implications, general limitations, and recommendations for future research.