News

The Society of Clinical Psychology (APA’s Division 12) has recently listed ACT as having “strong research support” for the treatment of chronic pain.

The ACBS Board of Directors has expressed serious concern regarding the content of the future Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fifth Edition, (DSM-5), which is currently under development. The DSM serves as an important component of the research, education, and practice of most licensed psychologists in the United States.

When ACBS was officially incorporated in 2006, it had 891 members. Since then, yearly membership numbers have been recorded in mid-May in order to track the organization’s growth. By mid-May 2008, ACBS had reached 1,670 members. By Mid-May 2010, ACBS had 2,779 members. That is impressive growth: just under 40 members added each and every month for 48 months.

Congratulations to John Forsyth and Georg Eifert, as well as Kelly Wilson and Troy Dufrene for this recent recognition of their efforts in producing empirically based self-help books! As people look to the shelves for support in leading their valued lives, it should reassure them to know these books are not only pleasing to read, but also scientifically based.

We are proud to announce the launch of the ACBS’s new flagship journal, the Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science (JCBS). After a little over a year of planning and dreaming, we anticipate the launch of the journal this November, and publication of the first issue in 2012. We are excited to have partnered with Elsevier, whose prestige and expertise give JCBS the best chances for success

In case you are wondering what this all means, here is a little background.  Although there are professional lists of evidence-based treatments such as the American Psychological Association Division 12 list of empirically-based treatments (where ACT is now considered to an empirically supported treatment with moderate support in depression and strong support in pain (http://www.div12.org/PsychologicalTreatments/treatments.html), there is only one similar effort inside the United State government, from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration, which is a division of the Department of Health and Human Services.