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Five Incredible Days in Anaheim

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From December 9-13th, eight thousand five hundred mental health practitioners, from countries around the globe, gathered in Anaheim, California to attend the “Evolution of Psychotherapy” conference.  Held every five years since 1985, the conference started big and has grown only larger.  “Only a few places in the US can accommodate such a large gathering,” says Jeffrey K. Zeig, Ph.D., who has organized the conference since the first.

The event, held every five years, brings together 40 of the field’s leading researchers, practitioners, trend setters, and educators to deliver keynote addresses and workshops, host discussion panels, and offer clinical demonstrations on every conceivable subject related to clinical practice.  Naturally, I spoke about my current work on “Achieving Clinical Excellence” as well as served on several topical panels, including “evidence based practice” (with Don Meichenbaum), “Research on Psychotherapy” (with Steven Hayes and David Barlow), and “Severe and Persistent Mental Illness (with Marsha Linnehan and Jeff Zeig).

Most exciting of all, the Evolution of Psychotherapy conference also served as the official launching point for the International Center for Clinical Excellence.  Here I am pictured with long-time colleague and friend, Jeff Zeig, and psychologist and ICCE CEO, Brendan Madden, in front of the ICCE display in the convention center hall.

Over the five days, literally hundreds of visitors stopped by booth #128 chat with me, Brendan, and Senior ICCE Associates and Trainers, Rob Axsen, Jim Walt, Cynthia Maeschalck, Jason Seidel, Bill Andrews, Gunnar Lindfeldt, and Wendy Amey.  Among other things, a cool M and M dispenser passed out goodies to folks (if they pressed the right combination of buttons), we also talked about and handed out leaflets advertising the upcoming “Achieving Clinical Excellence” conference, and finally people watched a brief video introducing the ICCE community.  Take a look yourself:.


More to come from the week in Anaheim….

Evolution of Psychotherapy and the International Center for Clinical Excellence

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Dateline: Chicago, Illinois
December 7, 2009

I’ve just finished packing my bags and am heading for the airport.  Tomorrow the “Evolution of Psychotherapy” begins.  Nearly 25 years after volunteering at the first “Evolution” conference, I’m back a second time to present.  Tomorrow, I’ll be talking about “Achieving Clinical Excellence.”  On the days that follow, I’m on panels with my friend Don Meichenbaum, as well as David Barlow, Marsha Linnehan, and others.  I’m really looking forward to the four days in Anaheim.

Of everything going on in sunny southern California, I have to say that I’m most excited about the launch of the International Center for Clinical Excellence.  We have a booth (#128) in the exhibitor hall where folks can stop by, talk, and peruse our new website.  As promised, it is a true web 2.0 experience, enabling clinicians researchers. and educators around the world to connect, share, and learn from each other.

We’ll be streaming video to facebook and twitter. Stay tuned to my blog and twitter accounts as well for updates, videos, and pictures from the conference.

Common versus Specific Factors and the Future of Psychotherapy: A Response to Siev and Chambless

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Early last summer, I received an email from my long time friend and colleague Don Meichenbaum alerting me to an article published in the April 2009 edition of the Behavior Therapist–the official “newsletter” of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies–critical of the work that I and others have done on the common factors.

Briefly, the article, written by two proponents of the “specific treatments for specific disorders” approach to “evidence-based practice” in psychology, argued that the common factors position–the idea that the efficacy of psychotherapy is largely due to shared rather than unique or model-specific factors–was growing in popularity despite being based on “fallacious reasoning” and a misinterpretation of the research.

Although the article claimed to provide an update on research bearing directly on the validity of the “dodo verdict”–the idea that all treatment approaches work equally well–it simply repeated old criticisms and ignored contradictory, and at times, vast evidence.  Said another way, rather than seizing the opportunity they were given to educate clinicians and address the complex issues involved in questions surrounding evidence-based practice, Siev and Chambless instead wrote to “shore up the faithful.”  “Do not doubt,” authors Siev and Chambless were counseling their adherents, “science is on our side.”

That differences and tensions exist in the interpretation of the evidence is clear and important.  At the same time, more should be expected from those who lead the field.  You read the articles and decide.  The issues at stake are critical to the future of psychotherapy.  As I will blog about next week, there are forces at work in the United States and abroad that are currently working to limit the types of approaches clinicians can employ when working with clients.  While well-intentioned, available evidence indicates they are horribly misguided.  Once again, the question clinicians and consumers face is not “which treatment is best for that problem,” but rather “which approach “fits with, engages, and helps” the particular consumer at this moment in time?”