Cognitive-behavioral therapists and researchers from the world over gathered for five days (and nights) in Vancouver, Canada this month at the World Congress of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies. As is always the case for me at these conferences, there was simply too much to see, hear, and do. Of course, the Great Northwest is beautiful and culturally rich, and there was the chance to mingle with old and new friends and colleagues. In addition, the conference offered a wide range of interesting educational events from which to choose. Since my skills at simultaneous bi-location are woefully underdeveloped, I simply could not attend the many events that interested me. Nevertheless, I came away with all the intellectual stimulation and professional invigoration that I had hoped for.
I especially liked Art Freeman's workshop on treating personality disorder patients. I really appreciated his emphasis on setting small goals and matching interventions to patient's cognitive-developmental level (e.g., emphasizing concrete, behavioral interventions and the use of pictures to convey abstract ideas for patients who frequently function at Piaget's pre-operational or sensorimotor stages). I was also quite interested to learn more about the work of colleagues in the Northwest on treatment of depression, including the Behavioral Activation approach (spearheaded by the late Neil Jacobson and carried on ably by his colleagues: Michael Addis, Christopher Martell, and Sonja Dimidjianm), and the work by Robert Kohlenberg integrating functional analytic psychotherapy with cognitive therapy. Both approaches appear to hold promise. Behavioral Activation has the advantage of relative ease of dissemination. Robert Kohlenberg's work emphasizes the opportunities to use the therapy relationship to create change and provides a formal procedure for doing this.
From a theoretical standpoint, I was intrigued by several studies presented on the measurement of implicit cognition. Much of this research appears to support Aaron T. Beck's early formulations regarding latent schemas as vulnerability factors for depression (and anxiety). I refer interested readers to work by Michael Gemar and Zindel Segal from Canada, and Peter deJong, Dirk Hermans, and Arnoud Arntz from the Netherlands.
I'm sure everyone who attended this congress has his or her own highlights. In my experience, there is nothing quite like a World Congress to bring vitality and a sense of global community to the work we do as clinicians and researchers. I hope to see you at the next World Congress, which will be held in Kobe, Japan in 2004.
