The importance of checking the assumptions of the professional referral source

Behavior therapy has at times been portrayed as simply an assemblage of therapeutic "techniques". However, central to its practice is a behavioral analysis which eventually leads to the selection of the most efficacious intervention. Wolpe has repeatedly warned against reliance upon either patients' assumptions or one's own "too facile" interpretations. From this excerpt from an initial consultation it is apparent that one must also be wary of the assumptions made by professional referral sources. It is easy to be led astray by seductively "obvious" correlations between environmental events and psychophysiological reactions. Different etiologies call for different treatment strategies, and careful behavioral analysis is needed for an appropriate decision.