Contemporary Issues in Behavior Therapy presents innovative approaches to various societal problems worldwide. Contributors explore issues from diverse areas such as behavioral medicine, education, developmental disability, poverty, problematic behavior, and developmental considerations (ie., early family experiences and aging process). The volume stimulates ideas for research, prevention, and treatment, as well as for managing other modern ills including homelessness, crime, and aggression.

This respected up-to-date survey of contemporary behavior therapy synthesizes the clinical, research, theoretical, and ethical facets of behavior therapy. It is simultaneously an introduction for beginning students and a scholarly review and resource for advanced students. The book is comprehensive, covering all the major behavioral and cognitive therapies. The wealth of case studies illustrate the application of behavior therapy techniques to a wide array of problems and clinical populations. The text's multidisciplinary approach includes applications to diverse fields, including psychology, education, social work, nursing, and rehabilitation.

Contemporary behavior therapy encompasses diverse conceptual positions, clinical and applied problems, and intervention techniques. Behavior therapy has spread to several disciplines to provide substantive concepts and procedures as well as methodological tenets regarding how intervention techniques are to be evaluated. The proliferation of behavior therapy research has produced a plethora of texts. Typically texts review the history of particular treatments and detail contemporary advances. The historical underpinnings are often emphasized with the heavily labored view that in order to understand where one is going, it is important to understand where one has been. To be sure, historical roots of behavior therapy are important to document. However, a given history might have many different outcomes. Similarly, the current status of par ticular areas is frequently reviewed. Sometimes the number of reviews seems to approach or exceed the number of sound studies that there are to be reviewed. A review of current work is obviously essential but leaves open major questions of where the work will all lead. A valuable addition to ex isting reviews would be information that points in a prescriptive or explicit way to areas that are likely to be important in future work. The present book is unique in its approach and focus. Brief reviews of contemporary advances are provided in diverse areas of behavior therapy and serve as a point of departure to chart emerging trends and future direc tions.

Abstract: The application of behavioral concepts to health problems ("behavioral medicine") represents a frontier for behavioral science research for the next decade. Current issues in the field of behavior modification emphasize the relevance of behavioral therapy to lifestyle changes, particularly in the area of health. Behavioral approaches to the etiology, pathogenesis, treatment, and prevention of illness are discussed. Specific topics include cognitive factors in behavior change; coping theory; the psychobiology of smoking; health hazard appraisal; weight loss; child behavior problems; student health; alcohol abuse; mental health; coronary risk behaviors; physical activity; and relapse. Health lifestyle change programs which can be implemented in the community via the mass media are described. Evaluation strategies for health lifestyle programs are also examined, in light of their importance to long term therapeutic success. The theme of maintenance of behavior change is stressed throughout.

This comprehensive, respected, and up-to-date survey of contemporary behavior therapy synthesizes the clinical, research, theoretical, and ethical facets of behavior therapy. Serving as both an introduction for novices and as a scholarly review and resource for more experienced users, CONTEMPORARY BEHAVIOR THERAPY, Sixth Edition covers all the major behavioral and cognitive therapies. The wealth of case studies illustrates the application of behavior therapy techniques to a wide array of problems and clinical populations. The book's multidisciplinary approach includes applications to diverse fields, including psychology, education, social work, nursing, and rehabilitation.