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Behavior therapy: Toward an applied clinical science
BOOK REVIEWS Behavior Therapy: Toward an Applied Clinical Science
by W. S. ACRAS, A. E. KAZDIN and G. T. WILSON W. H. Freeman, San Francisco, California,
173 pp.
The authors evaluate the relative merits of these strategies and other aspects of experimental design. An attempt to illustrate the importance of these considerations is made by tracing the development of research in the treatment of phobic disorders. UnfortunateIy, this illustration is rather sketchy and the conclusions made regarding the relative efficacy of various treatment components seem only to represent the authors’ theoretical position in this controversial area of research. Moreover, the relative emphasis given to phobia research may serve to perpetuate the myth that fears are the only area of effective behavioral treatment. Psychotherapy is beginning to realize the attainment of precise tools for the assessment of psychopathology, welltested and effective therapeutic procedures, and objective measures of behavior change. The authors suggest that training programs in the health service professions can make a substantive contribution in furthering these trends. Widespread concern with the development of scientific rather than descriptive method in psychotherapy is long overdue. STEPHEN D. LANDE
The task of providing a non-technical coverage of behavior therapy research and practice for dissemination to a wide range of professionals and to granting agencies is both important and timely for the field of psychotherapy. The authors have taken on that task as an outgrowth of previous work (Kazdin and Wilson, 1978; see also Rachman, 1979, for a review of that work). This book presents both historical and contemporary perspectives on the development of behavior therapy as the application of learning theories and experimental method to psychotherapeutic treatment. While the areas of application of behavioral techniques are only briefly noted, a number of research issues are presented in more detail. Aware of the growing influence of behavior therapy in psychotherapy and in the related medical disciplines, the authors remind us that its theoretical, methodological and evaluative aspects must constantly be reviewed and relined. Toward this end, the authors recognize the importance to psychotherapy outcome research of: rigidly defined therapeutic protocols. definitive experimental designs, and carefully constructed outcome measures. These outcome measures are reasonably considered most useful when maximally relevant to the evaluation of a patient’s life functioning, both in the short and long term. The behavior therapy literature contains a variety of research strategies aimed at isolating the components of a given treatment technique responsible for therapeutic gain.
Department of Psychiatry Temple University Medical School c/o Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric institute Philadelphia, PA, 19129
BOOKS RECEIVED Tests and Measurements by Leona E. Tyler and W. Bruce
Childhood Encopresis and Enuresis: Causes and Theory by
Walsh. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 59.95. Conditioning in Contemporary Perspective by Kenneth P. Hillner. Springer Publishing, New York, N.Y. 514.95. The wfects of Psychotherapy, Volume 1 (Annual Research Review) by Michael J. Lambert. Eden Medical Research inc., St. Albans, Vermont, S20.00.
Charles E. Schaefer. Van Nostrand ReInhold, New York, N.Y., $13.95. Verhaftenrtrainingsp~gramm zum At@au Sozialer Kompetetu (VTP) by F. J. Feldhege and G. Krauthan.
Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, Germany, US S42.90.
Marital Therapy: Strategies Based on Sociat Learning and Behavior by Neil S. Jacobson and Gayla Margolin.
Brunner/Maael. The Qualify of
Behavior Therapy: Toward on Applied
Clinical Science
by W. Stewart Agras, Alan E. Kazdin and Cl. Tercnce Wilson. W. H. Freeman & Company, Reading, England, f3.10.
New York, N.Y., $17.50.
Life by Innes H. Pearse. Scottish Academic
Press, Edinburgh, f6.50.
edited
Behavioral Medicine: Theory and Practice edited by Ovide
Behavioral Group Therapy 1979: An Annual Review
F. Pomerleau and John Paul Brady. Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, Maryland, $19.95. The Unheard Cry for Meaning: Psychotherapy and Humanism by Viktor E. Frankl. Hodder & Stoughton, London, England, f5.25.
Tutoral Essays in Psychology: A Guide to Recent Advances,
by Dennis Upper and Steven M. Ross. Research Press, Champaign, IL., SlS.95. Volume 2, edited by N. S. Sutherland. Somerset, New Jersey, f14.95. 85
John Wiley,
by W. S. ACRAS, A. E. KAZDIN and G. T. WILSON W. H. Freeman, San Francisco, California,
173 pp.
The authors evaluate the relative merits of these strategies and other aspects of experimental design. An attempt to illustrate the importance of these considerations is made by tracing the development of research in the treatment of phobic disorders. UnfortunateIy, this illustration is rather sketchy and the conclusions made regarding the relative efficacy of various treatment components seem only to represent the authors’ theoretical position in this controversial area of research. Moreover, the relative emphasis given to phobia research may serve to perpetuate the myth that fears are the only area of effective behavioral treatment. Psychotherapy is beginning to realize the attainment of precise tools for the assessment of psychopathology, welltested and effective therapeutic procedures, and objective measures of behavior change. The authors suggest that training programs in the health service professions can make a substantive contribution in furthering these trends. Widespread concern with the development of scientific rather than descriptive method in psychotherapy is long overdue. STEPHEN D. LANDE
The task of providing a non-technical coverage of behavior therapy research and practice for dissemination to a wide range of professionals and to granting agencies is both important and timely for the field of psychotherapy. The authors have taken on that task as an outgrowth of previous work (Kazdin and Wilson, 1978; see also Rachman, 1979, for a review of that work). This book presents both historical and contemporary perspectives on the development of behavior therapy as the application of learning theories and experimental method to psychotherapeutic treatment. While the areas of application of behavioral techniques are only briefly noted, a number of research issues are presented in more detail. Aware of the growing influence of behavior therapy in psychotherapy and in the related medical disciplines, the authors remind us that its theoretical, methodological and evaluative aspects must constantly be reviewed and relined. Toward this end, the authors recognize the importance to psychotherapy outcome research of: rigidly defined therapeutic protocols. definitive experimental designs, and carefully constructed outcome measures. These outcome measures are reasonably considered most useful when maximally relevant to the evaluation of a patient’s life functioning, both in the short and long term. The behavior therapy literature contains a variety of research strategies aimed at isolating the components of a given treatment technique responsible for therapeutic gain.
Department of Psychiatry Temple University Medical School c/o Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric institute Philadelphia, PA, 19129
BOOKS RECEIVED Tests and Measurements by Leona E. Tyler and W. Bruce
Childhood Encopresis and Enuresis: Causes and Theory by
Walsh. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 59.95. Conditioning in Contemporary Perspective by Kenneth P. Hillner. Springer Publishing, New York, N.Y. 514.95. The wfects of Psychotherapy, Volume 1 (Annual Research Review) by Michael J. Lambert. Eden Medical Research inc., St. Albans, Vermont, S20.00.
Charles E. Schaefer. Van Nostrand ReInhold, New York, N.Y., $13.95. Verhaftenrtrainingsp~gramm zum At@au Sozialer Kompetetu (VTP) by F. J. Feldhege and G. Krauthan.
Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, Germany, US S42.90.
Marital Therapy: Strategies Based on Sociat Learning and Behavior by Neil S. Jacobson and Gayla Margolin.
Brunner/Maael. The Qualify of
Behavior Therapy: Toward on Applied
Clinical Science
by W. Stewart Agras, Alan E. Kazdin and Cl. Tercnce Wilson. W. H. Freeman & Company, Reading, England, f3.10.
New York, N.Y., $17.50.
Life by Innes H. Pearse. Scottish Academic
Press, Edinburgh, f6.50.
edited
Behavioral Medicine: Theory and Practice edited by Ovide
Behavioral Group Therapy 1979: An Annual Review
F. Pomerleau and John Paul Brady. Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, Maryland, $19.95. The Unheard Cry for Meaning: Psychotherapy and Humanism by Viktor E. Frankl. Hodder & Stoughton, London, England, f5.25.
Tutoral Essays in Psychology: A Guide to Recent Advances,
by Dennis Upper and Steven M. Ross. Research Press, Champaign, IL., SlS.95. Volume 2, edited by N. S. Sutherland. Somerset, New Jersey, f14.95. 85
John Wiley,