The Vision of a Progressive Clinical Science to Guide Clinical Practice

Hayes and colleagues (2013--this issue) argue that empirical clinical psychology is hampered in its efforts to alleviate human suffering and present contextual behavioral science (CBS) to address the basic philosophical, theoretical and methodological shortcomings of the field. CBS represents a host of good ideas but at times the promise of CBS is obscured by excessive promotion of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Relational Frame Theory (RFT) and demotion of earlier cognitive and behavior change techniques in the absence of clear logic and empirical support. This commentary proposes that—despite these excesses and unnecessary criticisms of earlier approaches—the ideas of CBS, RFT, and ACT deserve serious consideration by the mainstream community and have great potential to shape a truly progressive clinical science to guide clinical practice.

Research highlights
► Contextual behavioral science encourages explicating philosophical assumptions, linking treatment techniques to basic science, developing treatments with methods sensitive to the treatment context, and testing a research program across multiple levels of analysis.
► Research in contextual behavioral science does not expose traditional behavioral and cognitive interventions as inadequate.
► Relational frame theory provides a useful framework upon which a progressive, effective and broad clinical science agenda may be built.