This is part 1 of 3 of my keynote talk at the First International CBT Conference in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the talk, I discuss the difficulties we face in our scientific understanding of human suffering and human growth and development. There is a brief exchange at the beginning of my talk that bears a little setting of context. Right before my talk, Paul Salkovskis gave a really great talk on his cognitive analyses of human suffering and showed some lovely experimental data. I found many things in Paul's talk with which I agreed. But in follow-up questions, Paul asserted two things. First, he asserted that he found Relational Frame Theory incomprehensible. I will take his word on that, though I and others have been successful in teaching it to graduate students for years. If Paul would like, I offer an open invitation to sit in on my class in Oxford, Mississippi (but he will have to do the readings). His second assertion was that Steve Hayes said that Relational Frame Theory had no relationship to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. This is, of course, an absurd idea. I have been working on clinical and applied theory in this area for decades. I have known Steve for more than 25 years and I can assure you that he never said such a thing. There is a brief exchange at the beginning of the video in which Paul (off camera) is repeatedly interrupting my talk. I hope that the brief interruption does not distract from the more substantive issues presented in the talk.

with my warmest regards,

Kelly G. Wilson

Visit my YouTube channel for part 2 and 3: https://www.youtube.com/@kellywilson2124