Individualizing treatment manuals as a challenge for the next generation

Eifert, Schulte, Zvolensky, Lejuez, and Lau (1997) present their views on the merits and challenges of manualized treatments for behavior therapy. In this commentary, we provide a “new generation” behavioral perspective on the future of such treatments. We discuss the importance of training issues and the development of problem-focused manualized treatments as opposed to diagnosis-focused manualized treatments. It is concluded that continued research in the development and improvement of manualized behavior therapy will place behavior therapists at the forefront of cutting-edge mental health services.