Reestablishing clinical psychology's subjective core

Comments on the report by the APA Presidential Task Force on Evidence-Based Practice entitled Evidence-based practice in psychology. The Task Force is to be commended for their report valuing evidence from "clinical expertise" on a par with "research data" (p. 272) in guiding psychological practices. The current author suggests that the APA not only should make a place at psychology's policy making table for "clinical expertise" but should prioritize clinical and subjective sources of data -- the essence of the psychological -- and set policies to ensure that objective data, such as behaviors and DSM diagnoses, are considered in their subjective context. The APA should also encourage researchers to devise ways to preserve as much as possible the personal "feel" of the clinical encounter in their data analysis and published conclusions. The APA also needs to assign priority to subjective emotional and relational skills on a par with academic and analytic skills in the selection and training of clinical psychology students. Reconnecting clinical psychology with its subjective evidentiary roots in ways such as these should help to bring us out from under the dominance of medicine, to the benefit of our profession and our clients.