Clinician Perspectives on Process-Based Therapy

Objectives: Process-based therapy (PBT) is an approach to psychological assessment and treatment focused on precisely matching treatment components to individual needs and context. For PBT to have a meaningful impact on mental healthcare, clinician input is needed to support treatment development, dissemination, and implementation efforts. The current study aimed to (1) better understand current perspectives on PBT among clinicians and (2) seek clinician feedback that may encourage accessibility and/or adoption of PBT. Method: We used a cross-sectional survey to examine clinicians’ familiarity with and perspectives on PBT and its associated framework, the extended evolutionary meta-model (EEMM). Results: In our sample of 150 clinicians, 57.3% had heard of PBT and 41.3% had heard of the EEMM. Participants broadly agreed on how to conceptualize treatment components using the EEMM. In addition, feedback from clinicians suggested that the EEMM may underemphasize certain aspects of functioning (e.g., interpersonal relationships), even if they are technically represented by the EEMM (e.g., Sociocultural level). Conclusion: There was high-level agreement with respect to how the EEMM was used as an organizing framework, however, training may be needed to increase inter-clinician reliability. Limitations include using an older version of the EEMM in our survey (current at the time of use) and limited representation of clinicians outside a cognitive behavioral orientation and working outside the U.S.