ABSTRACT
Recently, cognitive-behavioral therapy has been undergoing a remarkable transition. Spearheading this shi are two cognitive-behavioral innovators who are impacting the national therapeutic landscape — Barry Wolfe and Steven Hayes. Dr. Wolfe is a leading member of the psychotherapy integrationist movement as well as former head of the Psychosocial Treatment Research Program at the National Institute of Mental Health, and Dr. Hayes is a highly prolic originator of a new cognitive-behavioral paradigm. is paradigm (Acceptance and Commitment erapy [ACT]) was recently featured in Time magazine (February 13, 2006) as an emerging alternative to standard cognitive-behavioral practice. In the cases below, Wolfe and Hayes demonstrate how their innovative frameworks not only coincide with existential-integrative practices, but draw heavily from an existential-humanistic philosophical base. For example, Dr. Wolfe opens his illustration of anxiety disorders with an urgent appeal for an existentially based understanding of anxiety. is understanding in his view both supplements and bolsters standard cognitive-behavioral practice. He goes on to describe several of literally hundreds of examples where clients beneted from existentially oriented expansions of cognitive-behavioral interventions. In his featured case of “Leonardo,” Wolfe shows how obsessive-compulsive disorder can be understood from the perspective of death anxiety, and how experiential confrontation coupled with cognitive-behavioral exercises transformed Leonardo’s world.
