Paradigm clashes and progress: a personal reflection on a 50-year association with ABCT
Date
2016-11-01
Authors
Barlow, David H.
Version
Accepted manuscript
OA Version
Citation
David H Barlow. 2016. "Paradigm Clashes and Progress: A Personal Reflection on a 50-Year Association With ABCT." COGNITIVE AND BEHAVIORAL PRACTICE, Volume 23, Issue 4, pp. 415 - 419. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpra.2016.05.006
Abstract
Why is ABCT a successful, vibrant, and growing association when most other professional associations are withering on the vine? Since the first annual meeting of the organization, which I was privileged to attend, I have witnessed repeated changes in direction as new paradigms were introduced and debated. The clashing of ideas in these debates in our Association over the years centered on such things as classical versus operant learning principles, cognitive versus behavioral modes of intervention, the introduction of a focus on modifying affect and emotion, and “third wave” approaches. Indeed the very founding of the organization was based on a fundamental paradigm clash with the prevailing psychoanalytic approaches in the 1960s. The fact that through it all the organization continues to thrive reflects the secret to our success and our fundamental strength, a reliance on the slow but inexorable process of science.