Is Psychotherapy More Than Manual Labor

Stimulated by Wilson's (this issue) elegant efforts to reassure researchers and practitioners of the soundness of using treatment manuals for purposes of training and practice, I have elected to discuss some likely responses of expert but non-manual-initiated psychotherapists to the following invitations: (a) to collaborate with researchers in efforts to improve treatment manuals and (b) to adopt manuals in their own clinical practice. I review the recent history of problematic outcome research findings and the researchers' clear denigration of the therapists' valued clinical judgment. The likely differential responses of novice and expert psychotherapists are discussed, as is the condition that is most likely to reduce the researchers' and practitioners' continuing state of “assault and nattery.”