Abstract
The concept of resistance rarely if ever arose in the early literature on behavior therapy. Most of the original descriptions of behavior therapy conveyed an underlying assumption that, apart from their presenting problems, clients were totally “rational” beings who readily complied with the intervention procedures set forth. As behavior therapists began applying their procedures to unselected cases and were confronted with a wide variety of complex clinical problems, it became strikingly evident that the simple application of the appropriate technique was not always successful. Although the therapist might have been clear about the determinants associated with any problem behaviors, and may also have felt confident that certain therapeutic techniques had a good chance of bringing about the needed change, the clarity of the clinician’s thinking was not always matched by the client’s desire or ability to comply with the intervention procedures. It has been in the face of such instances of therapeutic noncompliance that the topic of resistance has come to the fore in behavior therapy.
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© 1982 Springer Science+Business Media New York
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Goldfried, M.R. (1982). Resistance and Clinical Behavior Therapy. In: Wachtel, P.L. (eds) Resistance. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2163-5_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2163-5_5
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