Can Contextual Therapies Save Clinical Behavior Analysis‪?‬

Behavior therapy has become separated from its philosophical roots in radical behaviorism. In many respects, operant techniques have gradually been substituted first by cognitive-behavioral and later by cognitive interventions. The main reason for the diminishing influence of behavior analysis in the area of clinical psychology is that radical behaviorists have not paid close attention to the importance of verbal processes in psychotherapy. Through new developments in basic behavior analysis, specifically in the areas of rule-governed behavior and stimulus equivalence, contemporary clinical behavior analysts have begun to re-conceptualize behavioral interventions. They no longer assume that private events need not be taken into account as there is ample evidence that verbally constructed events introduce additional variables that interact with, and often alter, the effects of contingencies. This thinking has led to the development of new contextual psychotherapies. Research is needed to demonstrate whether these behavioral interventions present alternatives to empirically validated non-behavioral treatments. The contributions of the successful therapist to clinical outcomes also need to be clarified. **********