Newsletter
Volume 31 | 2008 | Number 2
Clinical SIG
By Dr. Thomas Waltz
The Clinical Special Interest Group of ABAI (Clinical SIG) is dedicated to facilitating collaboration of researchers and clinicians in further development and applicationn of applied behavior analysis in clinical populations.
This group seeks to promote Clinical Behavior Analysis (CBA) at ABAI and is interested in maintaining the longstanding relationship between basic research and clinical application.
At this year's convention, Clinical SIG members presented the first Roadmap to convention events of interest to Clinical Behavior Analysis. Prior to the convention, Clinical SIG volunteers combed the convention program for events that addressed treatment, assessment, and philosophical issues of interest to CBA. The presenters also previewed many basic research presentations and described how they were relevant to CBA. A second service the Clinical SIG provided at this years conference was presenting a poster outlining where to get graduate training in CBA at the ABAI Expo. SIG leadership would like to thank all Clinical SIG members who volunteered their time and energy to these two events.
The Acceptance and Commitment Therapy summer training institute was held in Chicago just after the annual ABAI convention. This placement was intended to increase the attendance of clinical psychologists at the ABAI convention. The Clinical SIG hopes that future events will be within the ABAI convention structure under a larger track for clinical, family, and behavior medicine (CBM) events. ABAI has always had pre-convention workshops that have focused on radical behavioral approaches to psychotherapy. We have the membership expertise to produce a stronger CBM track and the Clinical SIG will be actively recruiting other radical behavioral approaches to psychotherapy (e.g., Behavioral Activation, Contingency Management, Couple's Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Functional Analytic Psychotherapy, Gerontology, and Pediatrics) to expand their offerings at the ABAI convention. Clinical SIG membership is also working on ways to recruit membership back from other organizations. The SIG will be planning future events similar to the Roadmap presentation at this year's convention to help clinicians discover all that ABAI has to offer them.
Several important events promoting the dissemination of CBA have occurred in 2007 and are occurring in 2008. There has been a resurgence of books focusing on issues related to radical behavioral psychotherapy. Jonas Ramnerö and Niklas Törneke’s ABCs of Human Behavior provides a well needed introduction to behavior analysis for psychotherapists. Doug Woods and Jonathan Kanter edited a book on understanding behavior disorders that highlights contemporary CBA treatments for a wide variety of clinical problems. The long-awaited books on Functional Analytic Psychotherapy, A Guide to Functional Analytic Psychotherapy and Functional Analytic Psychotherapy in Practice were completed by the numerous leaders in that approach and are due out later this year. The impressive array of Acceptance and Commitment therapy books will continue to expand ever further. And the most exciting development related to the Clinical SIG is the upcoming new special section of The Behavior Analyst focusing on contemporary issues in CBA.
Clinical Behavior Analysis is alive and well at ABAI. The Clinical SIG will continue to work to expand the offerings ABAI has for radical behavioral psychotherapists and actively recruit new members to this exciting field. If you would like to join the Clinical SIG, please contact us using the link at www.abainternational.org/Special_Interests/clinical.asp.