Introduction to the Special Issue on Processes of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Does “Necessary, But Not Sufficient” Still Capture It?

Abstract

Research over the last four decades on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is leading to a more comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms that underpin its efficacy. This introduction to the next generation of research on process offers a brief account of the evolution in the scientific foundations of CBT, to our current focus on treatment and in-session processes. It also provides a generic model for linking techniques with their target, uses, and treatment processes. In addition, how each component can be adapted according to CBT-specific elements of the client-therapist relationship (collaboration, empiricism, and Socratic dialogue) in a manner that is guided by the case conceptualization provides a more complex and comprehensive understanding of treatment delivery. The various research studies included within this special issue make important contributions to our understanding of the different ways in which both treatment and in-session processes are important to CBT.

On the Road to Personalized Psychotherapy: A Research Agenda Based on Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Depression

“…If certain patient characteristics predict a differential outcome depending on type of treatment, it must mean that something specific in the type of treatment is driving response in certain individuals and not in others. Further complexity exists because the clinician is tailoring therapeutic procedures (treatment processes) within the treatment and their mode of delivery (in-session process) as a function of patient characteristics ( 33 ). Thus, finding moderation is ipso facto evidence of differential mediation, i.e., pathways of change that differ between two or more treatments.…”

La Psicoterapia Como Ciencia Humana, Más Que Tecnológica

“…El estudio de procesos tanto más que el de resultados es el tema de nuestro tiempo en psicoterapia (Hayes y Hofmann, 2018;Holmes et al, 2018;Kazantzis, 2018;Leichsenring, Steinert y Crits-Christoph, 2018;Liddle, 2016). Siendo que las psicoterapias funcionan aun cuando no se sabe a ciencia cierta cómo, surge el estudio de los procesos y mecanismos, supuesto que sea cosa de mecanismos.…”

“…Si se repara en los dos planteamientos recientes probablemente más influyentes como son el documento de la Lancet Psychiatry Commission sobre la investigación en tratamientos psicológicos (Holmes et al, 2018) y el texto basado en los estándares para la formación doctoral en terapia cognitivo-conductual (Process-based CBT; Hayes y Hofmann, 2018), no se puede por menos de ver su parcialidad. En la misma línea estaría un importante trabajo de destacados autores españoles en Clínica y Salud (Tortella-Feliu et al, 2016) así como el número especial de Cognitive Therapy & Research (Kazantzis, 2018). La distinción de Barlow entre psicoterapia y tratamientos psicológicos reservando esta última denominación para los tratamientos empíricamente apoyados (Barlow 2004), no nos resuelve el problema porque es insostenible a tenor de lo dicho, amén de tendenciosa.…”

To what extent are cognitive behaviour therapy competencies incorporated into clinical psychology training? A national survey of Australian universities

“…Despite their strengths, ESTs can be restrictive in addressing the needs of clients with multiple or complex problems, and ethnic minority groups may be under‐represented in treatment efficacy studies (Tolin et al, ). Further, there is now a movement away from packages that prescribe specific, within‐session interventions for clients, and towards individualised case‐formulation driven treatment packages that facilitate broadly applicable processes (Kazantzis, ), such as the unified protocol pioneered by Barlow (Barlow et al, ). This flexible and process‐based treatment delivery is the practical implementation of the SP model and EBP, thus it needs to be attended to when assessing the competencies of psychologists.…”