THE ROLE OF PROCESS RESEARCH IN MANUAL DEVELOPMENT

In contemporary psychosocial treatment research, the test of the effic acy of standardized treatment manuals predominates in respectability r elative to naturalistic research on the process components of flexible treatments, though the latter strategy is necessary for the empirical identification of effective process components. Standardizing a treat ment constrains the variance of process variables and, thereby, attenu ates the manifestation of potential correlations. Research is reviewed , providing evidence for several unexpected deleterious or moderating effects of utilizing standardized treatment manuals. We conclude that naturalistic research using flexible treatments is necessary for makin g the development of treatment manuals, and their modification, a trul y scientific process.