Special Issue on the Cognitive Revolution in Clinical

Psychology: Beyond the Behavioral Approach—

Introductory Remarks
䊲

Daniel David
Babes-Bolyai University and Mount Sinai School of Medicine

Recently, the impact of the cognitive revolution on the clinical field has
been challenged by behavioral professionals at both theoretical and prac-
tical levels. This article is a brief introduction to a special issue of the
Journal of Clinical Psychology and presents the objectives and the struc-
ture of this special issue. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol
60: 351–352, 2004.

Keywords: cognitive revolution; behavioral challenges; introduction.

Recently, the impact of the cognitive revolution on the clinical field has been challenged
at both theoretical and practical levels. At the theoretical level, behaviorism in its various
forms has argued that the cognitive model is superfluous. Methodological behaviorism
suggests that cognitive constructs are just epiphenomena and that they play no important
role in explaining, predicting, or describing human behavior. Radical behaviorism argues
that cognitive constructs are merely internalized behaviors. In addition, philosophical
behaviorism 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 that
cognitive 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 special
issue, the many contributors to this issue, and the people who gave of their time to serve as peer reviewers of the
papers 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 to
extend 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 and
Center 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
352 Journal of Clinical Psychology, April 2004

during a recent Forum Debate with some colleagues from the Society for the Science of
Clinical Pychology. Because of this debate, we decided to organize a special issue of the
Journal of Clinical Psychology devoted to addressing these topics.
This issue examines the behavioral challenges to the cognitive approach and explores
the 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 concepts
in cognitive psychology and cognitive science. They discuss the potential impact of these
concepts on the clinical field (i.e., cognitive–behavioral therapy). The second article, by
Kirsch, Lynn, Vigorito, and Miller, examines how cognitive theory has reinterpreted and
reconceptualized the basic constructs of behavioral theory, namely classical and operant
conditioning. The second part of this issue, entitled “Applied Cognitive Approach,” con-
tains several important contributions. Michael W. Eysenck discusses the impact of the
fundamental research in cognitive psychology on the conceptualization and treatment of
anxiety disorders. Guy H. Montgomery then addresses the impact of the cognitive approach
on health psychology and behavioral medicine, followed by an examination by E. Tho-
mas Dowd on the impact of the cognitive revolution on psychotherapy. Finally, Deacon
and Abramowitz review quantitative meta-analyses, comparing the impact of cognitive
and 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 by
behavioral oriented professionals, as well as the information offered by this issue of the
Journal of Clinical Psychology, I present an overview of the theoretical and practical
implications of the cognitive revolution on the clinical field and discuss the unique con-
tributions of this approach beyond the contributions of the behavioral approach.