Acquisition of adaptive skills: Psychotherapeutic change in cognitive and dynamic therapies

We argue that there are important areas of overlap in the types of patient change processes that occur in cognitive therapy and dynamic therapy. These common processes of patient change have been obscured by differences in la nguage and theoretical constructs between the two traditions. We suggest th at the acquisition of adaptive skills describes patient change processes th at are common to both therapies. More specifically, we propose that the con cept of adaptive skills encompasses both the compensatory skills model of c ognitive therapy (Barber & DeRubeis, 1989) and some of the patient changes that occur in dynamic therapies. In clarifying these areas of overlap betwe en cognitive and dynamic therapies encompassed by the adaptive skills acqui red in both, the present article highlights the fact that the two therapeut ic traditions employ radically different techniques to achieve some of the same outcomes. Recognizing the overlap between change processes in the two types of therapy, and adopting a common language for them, allows for furth er theoretical and empirical investigation of therapy process and outcome. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd.