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Evaluation of psychological therapies: Psychotherapies, behavior therapies, drug therapies, and their interactions
BEHAVIOR THERAPY 7, 726-730 (1976)
BOOK REVIEWS Briefly Noted MADSEN, CLIFFORD K., & MADSEN, CHARLESH., JR. Parents and Children, Love and Discipline: A Positive Guide to Behavior Modification. Northbrook, IL: AHM Publishing Corporation, 1975. ix + 213 Pp. $4.95. There is much competition in the field of behavior modification texts for parents but this, reflecting the authors' widespread experience, is better than most by far. Highly readable but well written, accurate but nontechnical, this is a wise contribution which can be recommended with confidence to any seriously concerned and reasonably literate parent prepared to invest in the small but necessary amount of effort required to do this little book justice--the vocabulary level is somewhat more sophisticated than the run of the mill parents' manual. Part I deals with major issues in child rearing and the principles involved. Part II contains over 100 specific examples of proven programs which should be applicable to most parent/child interactions. The authors' General Observation Form is particularly helpful and some 23 examples of filled-in forms are included in the Examples. Part III provides lists of many things parents can do to change their children's behavior, ranging from words of approval, through relationships and social activities to material things, on the positive side, to an obviously more limited and less favored repertoire for the expression of disapproval, on the negative. Hopefully, in the second edition the publishers will get the name of our Association correct and avoid that lack of commonality which their unfortunate use of the term "behavioral therapies" suggests. BRENGELMANN, J. C., QUINN, J. T., GRAHAM, P. J., HARBISON, J. J. M., & MCALLISTER, H. (Eds.). Progress in Behaviour Therapy. Bedim Springer-Verlag, 1975. xiii + 314 Pp. $6.00. Thanks to the efforts of the editors of the volume and a small group of enthusiasts in continental Europe, the European Association for Behaviour Therapy is alive and well and living primarily in Belfast, Amsterdam, and Munich. This book contains a selection of the proceedings of the Second Meeting of the Association and the Fourth Annual Meeting of the Behavioural Engineering Association. The 36 original contributions cover a wide range of problems and issues, ranging from the treatment of specific disorders in children and adults to physiological concomitants of behavior change, behavior modification in the community, mathematical models, and methodological strategies. In addition to the editors, contributors include such stalwarts as Ramsay, Marks, Bancroft, Peck, and Kellam. The first in a series, we look forward with pleasure to future volumes. SPITZER, ROBERT L., & KLEIN, DONALD F. (Eds.). Evaluation of Psychological
Therapies: Psychotherapies, Behavior Therapies, Drug Therapies, and Their Interactions. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976. xiii + 314 Pp. $17.00. Participants in the 64th annum meeting of the American Psychopathological Association were required to present data, not mere speculation. This book, the papers presented at the 726 Copyright© 1976by Associationfor Advancementof BehaviorTherapy. All rights of reproductionin any form reserved.
BOOK REVIEWS
727
meeting, contains both. The first day was devoted to psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, and behavior therapy; the second to the combined use of drug and psychological therapies. The section on behavior therapy includes a brief appraisal by O'Leary and Kent of the efficacy of their consultation program for parents and teachers, an outcome survey by Wilson of different aversive control procedures at the Rutgers Alcohol Behavior Research Laboratory, a review by Marks of the conjoint use of drugs and (chiefly) behavior therapy in the treatment of phobic disorders, and two discussion papers by Mahoney and Rimm, respectively. Rimm's paper, prepared at brief notice, is particularly interesting, serving as it does not only as a commentary on the preceding presentations but as a kind of general overview of behavior therapy vis-~t-vis the psychiatric scene. Another paper likely to interest readers of this Journal, by Luborsky, Singer and Luborsky, examines 18 controlled comparisons of behavior therapy with psychotherapy. LEWIS, JERRY M., BEAVERS, W. ROBERT, GOSSETT, JOHN T., & PHILLIPS, VIRGINIA AUSTIN. No Single Thread: Psychological Health in Family Systems. New York: Brunner/Mazel, 1976. xxi + 260 Pp. $13.50. The idea is clearly a good one: Amass longitudinal psychological data on how healthy families function, focusing upon interactional as well as individual observations. Increasingly, the shift is from the so-called psychodynamics of the individual to a general systems theory approach to the study of the deviant family. The present group from the Timberlawn Foundation in Texas--put much effort and skill into this project, which surveyed 33 healthy families and the families of 70 hospitalized adolescents, developing a variety of scales along the way. The limitations, of which the investigators are well aware, pertain to sampling constrictions and reliance upon cross-sectional rather than longitudinal observations. The book contains much data and the general approach would seem to point to one of the directions in which traditional behavioral assessment is already beginning to extend itself. WEISS, BERNARD (Ed.). Current Status of Behavioral Pharmacology. Federation Proceedings, 34(9), August 1975. Whole Issue. $6.00. Originally presented at the Federation meetings in 1974 in the form of a two-day symposium, the papers are grouped into four sections: I, Environmental Influences Affecting the Voluntary Intake of Drugs (Weeks; Thompson and Pickens; Goldberg, et al.; Woods, et al.; Bigelow, et al.); II, Interactions of Behavioral and Neurochemical Processes (Carlton; Harvey, et al.; Sparber; Aprison, et al.; Selden, et al.); III, Behavioral Toxicology (Mello; Spyker; Schuster and Fischman; Hanson; Evans, et al.); IV, Contingencies of Reinforcement as Determinants of Drug Response (Morse; McMillan; Laties; Cook and Sepinwall; Heise). BERKOWITZ, SAMUEL. Filmography on Behavior Modification, Behavior Therapy, Programmed Instruction, Learning and Conditioning. ABC's of Behavior Change, Box 134, Columbia, MD 21045, 1976. $4.50. An annotated, up-to-date, guide to over 260 films, videotapes and slide shows with full details of distributors and how to contact them. Descriptive rather than evaluative, most of the text is taken directly from the distributors' catalogues. Purchase prices and rental fees are deliberately omitted and prospective buyers or renters are advised to shop around since many of the films--especially the older ones--are sometimes available from more than one source.
BOOK REVIEWS Briefly Noted MADSEN, CLIFFORD K., & MADSEN, CHARLESH., JR. Parents and Children, Love and Discipline: A Positive Guide to Behavior Modification. Northbrook, IL: AHM Publishing Corporation, 1975. ix + 213 Pp. $4.95. There is much competition in the field of behavior modification texts for parents but this, reflecting the authors' widespread experience, is better than most by far. Highly readable but well written, accurate but nontechnical, this is a wise contribution which can be recommended with confidence to any seriously concerned and reasonably literate parent prepared to invest in the small but necessary amount of effort required to do this little book justice--the vocabulary level is somewhat more sophisticated than the run of the mill parents' manual. Part I deals with major issues in child rearing and the principles involved. Part II contains over 100 specific examples of proven programs which should be applicable to most parent/child interactions. The authors' General Observation Form is particularly helpful and some 23 examples of filled-in forms are included in the Examples. Part III provides lists of many things parents can do to change their children's behavior, ranging from words of approval, through relationships and social activities to material things, on the positive side, to an obviously more limited and less favored repertoire for the expression of disapproval, on the negative. Hopefully, in the second edition the publishers will get the name of our Association correct and avoid that lack of commonality which their unfortunate use of the term "behavioral therapies" suggests. BRENGELMANN, J. C., QUINN, J. T., GRAHAM, P. J., HARBISON, J. J. M., & MCALLISTER, H. (Eds.). Progress in Behaviour Therapy. Bedim Springer-Verlag, 1975. xiii + 314 Pp. $6.00. Thanks to the efforts of the editors of the volume and a small group of enthusiasts in continental Europe, the European Association for Behaviour Therapy is alive and well and living primarily in Belfast, Amsterdam, and Munich. This book contains a selection of the proceedings of the Second Meeting of the Association and the Fourth Annual Meeting of the Behavioural Engineering Association. The 36 original contributions cover a wide range of problems and issues, ranging from the treatment of specific disorders in children and adults to physiological concomitants of behavior change, behavior modification in the community, mathematical models, and methodological strategies. In addition to the editors, contributors include such stalwarts as Ramsay, Marks, Bancroft, Peck, and Kellam. The first in a series, we look forward with pleasure to future volumes. SPITZER, ROBERT L., & KLEIN, DONALD F. (Eds.). Evaluation of Psychological
Therapies: Psychotherapies, Behavior Therapies, Drug Therapies, and Their Interactions. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976. xiii + 314 Pp. $17.00. Participants in the 64th annum meeting of the American Psychopathological Association were required to present data, not mere speculation. This book, the papers presented at the 726 Copyright© 1976by Associationfor Advancementof BehaviorTherapy. All rights of reproductionin any form reserved.
BOOK REVIEWS
727
meeting, contains both. The first day was devoted to psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, and behavior therapy; the second to the combined use of drug and psychological therapies. The section on behavior therapy includes a brief appraisal by O'Leary and Kent of the efficacy of their consultation program for parents and teachers, an outcome survey by Wilson of different aversive control procedures at the Rutgers Alcohol Behavior Research Laboratory, a review by Marks of the conjoint use of drugs and (chiefly) behavior therapy in the treatment of phobic disorders, and two discussion papers by Mahoney and Rimm, respectively. Rimm's paper, prepared at brief notice, is particularly interesting, serving as it does not only as a commentary on the preceding presentations but as a kind of general overview of behavior therapy vis-~t-vis the psychiatric scene. Another paper likely to interest readers of this Journal, by Luborsky, Singer and Luborsky, examines 18 controlled comparisons of behavior therapy with psychotherapy. LEWIS, JERRY M., BEAVERS, W. ROBERT, GOSSETT, JOHN T., & PHILLIPS, VIRGINIA AUSTIN. No Single Thread: Psychological Health in Family Systems. New York: Brunner/Mazel, 1976. xxi + 260 Pp. $13.50. The idea is clearly a good one: Amass longitudinal psychological data on how healthy families function, focusing upon interactional as well as individual observations. Increasingly, the shift is from the so-called psychodynamics of the individual to a general systems theory approach to the study of the deviant family. The present group from the Timberlawn Foundation in Texas--put much effort and skill into this project, which surveyed 33 healthy families and the families of 70 hospitalized adolescents, developing a variety of scales along the way. The limitations, of which the investigators are well aware, pertain to sampling constrictions and reliance upon cross-sectional rather than longitudinal observations. The book contains much data and the general approach would seem to point to one of the directions in which traditional behavioral assessment is already beginning to extend itself. WEISS, BERNARD (Ed.). Current Status of Behavioral Pharmacology. Federation Proceedings, 34(9), August 1975. Whole Issue. $6.00. Originally presented at the Federation meetings in 1974 in the form of a two-day symposium, the papers are grouped into four sections: I, Environmental Influences Affecting the Voluntary Intake of Drugs (Weeks; Thompson and Pickens; Goldberg, et al.; Woods, et al.; Bigelow, et al.); II, Interactions of Behavioral and Neurochemical Processes (Carlton; Harvey, et al.; Sparber; Aprison, et al.; Selden, et al.); III, Behavioral Toxicology (Mello; Spyker; Schuster and Fischman; Hanson; Evans, et al.); IV, Contingencies of Reinforcement as Determinants of Drug Response (Morse; McMillan; Laties; Cook and Sepinwall; Heise). BERKOWITZ, SAMUEL. Filmography on Behavior Modification, Behavior Therapy, Programmed Instruction, Learning and Conditioning. ABC's of Behavior Change, Box 134, Columbia, MD 21045, 1976. $4.50. An annotated, up-to-date, guide to over 260 films, videotapes and slide shows with full details of distributors and how to contact them. Descriptive rather than evaluative, most of the text is taken directly from the distributors' catalogues. Purchase prices and rental fees are deliberately omitted and prospective buyers or renters are advised to shop around since many of the films--especially the older ones--are sometimes available from more than one source.