BEHAVIORAL TREATMENT OF CHRONIC PSYCHIATRIC-DISORDERS - PUBLICATION TRENDS AND FUTURE-DIRECTIONS

The historical roots of behavioral psychology are entwined in the treatment of chronic psychiatric disorders. Despite the many noteworthy accomplishments of early researchers in this area, there are recent signs of a relative lack of a behavioral focus within many inpatient psychiatric settings, as well as evidence of a decreased representation in the published literature of behavioral applications with persons exhibiting chronic psychiatric disorders. We reviewed the behavioral treatment literature in nine journals from the period 1963 through 1988, locating some 256 reports of behavioral treatments of chronic psychiatric disorders. The results document the movement of behavioral clinicians away from this important area of applied clinical research, and suggest certain areas of weakness (e.g., lack of follow-up data, absence of functional analysis) in the work that has been done by behavioral psychologists. We discuss possible reasons for the flight of behavioral psychology from this area of treatment, and make suggestions for reversing the trend.