Special Issue on the Cognitive Revolution in ClinicalPsychology: Beyond the Behavioral Approach—

Introductory Remarks�

Daniel David

Babes-Bolyai University and Mount Sinai School of Medicine

Recently, the impact of the cognitive revolution on the clinical field hasbeen challenged by behavioral professionals at both theoretical and prac-tical levels. This article is a brief introduction to a special issue of theJournal of Clinical Psychology and presents the objectives and the struc-ture of this special issue. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol60: 351–352, 2004.

Keywords: cognitive revolution; behavioral challenges; introduction.

Recently, the impact of the cognitive revolution on the clinical field has been challengedat both theoretical and practical levels. At the theoretical level, behaviorism in its variousforms has argued that the cognitive model is superfluous. Methodological behaviorismsuggests that cognitive constructs are just epiphenomena and that they play no importantrole in explaining, predicting, or describing human behavior. Radical behaviorism arguesthat cognitive constructs are merely internalized behaviors. In addition, philosophicalbehaviorism argues that cognitive constructs are linguistic terms that describe behaviors,and therefore can be reduced to behaviors. At the practical level, it has been argued thatcognitive interventions have contributed nothing beyond behavioral techniques to improv-ing efficacy or effectiveness in the clinical field. These criticisms were all reiterated

The author wishes to thank Dr. Larry Beutler for extending the invitation to serve as guest editor for this specialissue, the many contributors to this issue, and the people who gave of their time to serve as peer reviewers of thepapers in this issue. The author also would like to thank his colleagues at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine,especially Dr. Dana Bovbjerg and Dr. Guy Montgomery for their continued help. The author also wishes toextend special thanks to Dr. Julie Schnur, who helped with the editing of his contributions to this special issue.Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to: Daniel David, Department of Psychology andCenter for Cognitive and Behavioral Psychotherapies, Babes-Bolyai University, No. 37 Gh. Bilascu Street,3400, Cluj-Napoca, Cluj, Romania; e-mail: danieldavid@psychology.ro.

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Vol. 60(4), 351–352 (2004) © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/jclp.10249

during a recent Forum Debate with some colleagues from the Society for the Science ofClinical Pychology. Because of this debate, we decided to organize a special issue of theJournal of Clinical Psychology devoted to addressing these topics.

This issue examines the behavioral challenges to the cognitive approach and exploresthe impact of the cognitive revolution on the clinical field. This special issue, entitled“Cognitive Revolution in Clinical Psychology: Beyond the Behavioral Approach” is struc-tured in two parts. The first part refers to “Fundamentals of the Cognitive Approach/Psychology.” In the first article, David, Miclea, and Opre present the fundamental conceptsin cognitive psychology and cognitive science. They discuss the potential impact of theseconcepts on the clinical field (i.e., cognitive–behavioral therapy). The second article, byKirsch, Lynn, Vigorito, and Miller, examines how cognitive theory has reinterpreted andreconceptualized the basic constructs of behavioral theory, namely classical and operantconditioning. The second part of this issue, entitled “Applied Cognitive Approach,” con-tains several important contributions. Michael W. Eysenck discusses the impact of thefundamental research in cognitive psychology on the conceptualization and treatment ofanxiety disorders. Guy H. Montgomery then addresses the impact of the cognitive approachon health psychology and behavioral medicine, followed by an examination by E. Tho-mas Dowd on the impact of the cognitive revolution on psychotherapy. Finally, Deaconand Abramowitz review quantitative meta-analyses, comparing the impact of cognitiveand behavioral techniques on anxiety disorders. In the end of this special issue, “Conclu-sions and Discussions,” William H. Redd discusses the articles in this issue from a behav-ioral point of view. Then, integrating the criticisms of the cognitive approach offered bybehavioral oriented professionals, as well as the information offered by this issue of theJournal of Clinical Psychology, I present an overview of the theoretical and practicalimplications of the cognitive revolution on the clinical field and discuss the unique con-tributions of this approach beyond the contributions of the behavioral approach.

352 Journal of Clinical Psychology, April 2004