Behavior Therapy: Where We Were, Where We Are and Where We Need to Be Going

Abstract

In this overview of behavior therapy both in the early days, as it is now and where I believe it needs to go, I start with identifying those who had such an enormous effect on my own growth as a behavior therapist, starting from my days as a believer in Freudian psychology to my present passion in developing computerized behavioral treatments. I begin by describing the huge impact of Walter Mischel, Arthur Staats, and Al Bandura in providing theoretical underpinnings of this new practice and the Stony Brook Postdoctoral Program in Behavior Modification for highlighting and encouraging the importance of the interplay between science and clinical application. Experimentation, evidence, and data anchored the philosophy that underpinned behavior therapy. In discussing where we are now in behavior therapy I highlight our success and the need for thoughtfulness in subsequent behavior therapy research. Next I comment on where I think we need to go, including the need to attend to effective implementation, the importance of training clinicians in clinical assessment, and training our graduate students without fragilizing them. I then highlight the need for certification of behavior therapists to protect the public, the need to eliminate “talk therapy” as a definition of behavior therapy, and finally I comment on the importance of harnessing technology to develop computerized behavior therapies.