EP17 Speech with Discussant 05 - Process-Based Therapy: The Future of Evidence-Based Care - Steven Hayes, PhD and David Burns, MD

Description: In this ambitious address, Hayes argues that diagnosis-driven, protocol-for-syndrome models have reached their limits and calls for a shift toward targeting core change processes that cut across disorders and traditions. Drawing on mediation research, evolutionary principles, and decades of clinical science, he outlines a process-based approach that prioritizes flexibility, context, and measurable mechanisms of change. Burns joins the conversation to explore what this shift means for measurement, resistance, and the future of evidence-based care.

Syllabus Description: Evidence-based care is still the future of mental and behavioral health intervention, but not in the form of protocols for syndromes which has finally collapsed of its own weight. This talk is about what is arising in its place. I argue that process-based therapy is the logical next step in the evolution of evidence-based care: evidence-based processes linked to evidence-based procedures that alleviate the problems and promote the prosperity of people. Using the work on psychological flexibility as a foil, I explore how process-based therapy can help dissolve some of the long standing differences between the various wings of psychotherapy, and liberate the practices of practitioners who value an evidence-based approach.

Educational Objectives:

1. Describe the traditional scientific approach to evidence-based therapy.
2. Describe what successful mediational studies demonstrate.
3. Define process-based therapy.

*Sessions may be edited for content and to preserve confidentiality*