Later today, I board United flight 908 on my way to workshops scheduled in Holland and Belgium.  My routine in the days leading up to an international trip is always the same.  I slowly gather together the items I'll need while away: computer (check); european electric adapter (check); presentation materials (check); clothes (check).   And, oh yeah, ...
Read More

Nicholas Cummings, Ph.D. Sometime in late 1986 I wrote a letter to Dr. Nicholas Cummings.  As a then student-member of the American Psychological Association (APA), I was automatically subscribed to and receiving the American Psychologist.  In the April issue, Dr. Cummings published an article, provocatively titled, "The Dismantling of Our Health System: Strategies for ...
Read More

Get ready.  The revolution is coming (if not already here).  Whether you are a direct service provider (psychologist, counselor, marriage and family therapist), agency, broker, or funder, you will be required to measure and likely report the outcomes of your clinical work. Jay Lebow, Ph.D. Just this month, Dr. Jay Lebow, ...
Read More

Several years ago I was contacted by a group of practitioners located in the largest city in the north of the Netherlands--actually the capital of the province known as Groningen.  The "Platform," as they are known, were wondering if I'd be willing to come and speak at one of their upcoming conferences.  The practice ...
Read More

As anyone who follows me on Facebook knows, I get around.  In the past few months, I visited Australia, Norway, Sweden, Denmark (to name but a few countries) as well as criss-crossed the United States.  If I were asked to sum up the state of public behavioral health agencies in a single ...
Read More

Dateline: Mosjoen, Norway The last stop on my training tour around northern Norway was Mosjoen.  The large group of psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists, case managers, and physicians laughed uproariously when I talked about the bumpy, "white-knuckler" ride aboard the small twin-engine airplane that delivered me to the snowy, mountain-rimmed town. They were ...
Read More

For those of you following me on Facebook--and if you're not, click here to start--you know that I was traveling above the arctic circle in Norway last week.  I always enjoy visiting the Scandinavian countries.  My grandparents immigrated from nearby Sweden.  I lived there myself for a number of years (and speak ...
Read More

January 11th, 2010 "Debate over Cognitive & Traditional Mental Health Therapy" by Eric Jaffe The fight debate between different factons, interest groups, scholars within the field of mental health hit the pages of the Los Angeles Times this last week. At issue?  Supposedly, whether the field will become "scientific" in practice ...
Read More

Dateline: Tromso, Norway Place: Rica Ishavshotel For the last two days, I've had the privilege of working with 125+ clinicians (psychotherapists, psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists, and addiction treatment professionals) in far northern Norway.  The focus of the two-day training was on "What Works" in treatment, in particular examining what constitutes ...
Read More

Bruce Wampold, Ph.D. Late yesterday, I blogged about a soon-to-be published article in Clinical Psychology Review in which the authors argue that the finding by Benish, Imel, & Wamppold (2008) of equivalence in outcomes among treatments for PTSD was due to, "bias, over-generalization, lack of transparency, and poor judgement."  Which interpretation of the evidence ...
Read More

Researchers Anke Ehlers, Jonathon Bisson, David Clark, Mark Creamer, Steven Pilling, David Richards, Paula Schnurr, Stuart Turner, and William Yule have finally done it!  They slayed the "dodo." Not the real bird of course--that beast has been extinct since the mid to late 17th century but rather the "dodo bird" conjecture first ...
Read More

Not long ago, I had a rather lengthy email exchange with a well-known, high profile psychotherapist in the United States.  Feedback was the topic.  We both agreed that feedback was central to successful psychotherapy.   We differed, however, in terms of method.  I argued for the use of simple, standardized measures of progress and alliance (e.g., ...
Read More

"How valid and reliable are the ORS and SRS?"  "What do the data say about the impact of routine measurement and feedback on outcome and retention in behavioral health?"  "Are the ORS and SRS 'evidence-based?'" These and other questions regarding the evidence supporting the ORS, SRS, and feedback are becoming increasingly ...
Read More

Registrations are already coming in for the first International Conference on "Achieving Clinical Excellence." Not too long ago, I announced that internationally known researcher K. Anders Erickson, Ph.D.--the "expert on experts"--had agreed to present at the event.  At that time, I also indicated that a number of internationally accomplished performers from a variety ...
Read More

One year ago today, I blogged about my New Year's resolution to "take up the study of expertise and expert performance."  The promise marked a significant departure from my work up to that point in time and was not without controversy: "Was I no longer interested in psychotherapy?" "Had I given up ...
Read More

"What works" in therapy?  Believe it or not, that question--as simple as it is--has and continues to spark considerable debate.  For decades, the field has been divided.  On one side are those who argue that the efficacy of psychological treatments is due to specific factors (e.g., changing negative thinking patterns) inherent ...
Read More