The Mutual Enrichment of Basic and Applied Research in Psychological Science and Practice

Abstract

Dealing with the problems of substance abuse requires both an appreciation of clinical reality and an understanding of basic psychosocial principles Each of the conference presentations of theory and research most of them nonapplied in nature, created a welcome and rare occasion for experimental and clinical psychologists (and hybrids) to reflect together on the applied implications of some basic research and on the research implications of some applied professional activities Among the issues found especially noteworthy by this discussant were the following the return of cognition and rational decision making as legitimate and critical foci in behavior therapy, the role of exposure to aversive events in reducing their fearsomeness, the advantages of not working doggedly to achieve goals that are better approached with a nonachievement attitude the possibility that the difficulty in altering pathological behavior derives from the properties of human language, appreciation of individual differences in psychotherapy outcome research, the importance of considering the meaning that therapeutic ministrations can have for certain patients, and the need to reexamine the utility of patients expressing their concerns