ABSTRACT
The behavior therapy movement began with two key commitments: (1) empirical validation of well-specified interventions for well-specified problems, and (2) an analysis of problems and treatment in terms of basic psychological processes. Franks and Wilson’s well-known early definition of behavior therapy shows that dual commitment clearly, asserting that behavior therapy was based on “operationally defined learning theory and conformity to well established experimental paradigms” (1974, p. 7). Over the 40 years of development of behavior therapy, however, only the first of these two commitments has been firmly kept.
