PROFESSOR HIGGINS' DILEMMA: ELIZA DOOLITTLE GROWS UP—A REVIEW OF SOURCEBOOK OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TREATMENT MANUALS FOR ADULT DISORDERS EDITED BY VINCENT VAN HASSELT AND MICHEL HERSEN

Abstract

Readers of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA) will find Van Hasselt and Hersen’s Sourcebook of Psychological Treatment Manuals for Adult Disorders quite interesting reading, but will likely regard it with the ambivalence of a parent watching one’s child doing well in life through slightly nefarious methods. Be prepared, then, for some mixed feelings as you read this highly recommended, very serious work. The list of contributing authors to the Sourcebook reads like a who’s who of contemporary cutting-edge clinical psychology, psychiatry, and social work: Alan Bellack, Kelly Brownell, Paul Emmelkamp, Edna Foa, Michel Hersen, Michael Kozak, Robert Liberman, William Marshall, Vincent Van Hasselt, Robert Weiss, and Stephen Wong, to name the most prominent. The structure of the Sourcebook is a series of chapters that provide fairly operational guidelines for the behavioral treatment of 17 common psychosocial problems: panic disorder and agoraphobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression (two chapters!), schizophrenia, sex offending, sexual dysfunctions, losing weight (two chapters!), marital problems, and insomnia, among others. An introductory chapter by Ron Acierno and the editors is titled ‘‘Accountability in Psychological Treatment,’’ and argues well the case that (a)