This is a summary of the curriculum vitae (CV) of Prof. Steven C. Hayes, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Nevada, Reno, USA. On January 28 (his January 27), he will give a seminar at Fujita Health University.
Psychotherapy is the field where our human ability to communicate and lift ourselves and others up from mental distress meets with science. Professor Hayes is one of the true greats in the history of psychotherapy. Arguably and simplified—neglecting other important names and sub-directions—some of the major representative figures of psychotherapy history have been:
• Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). Idea: Becoming aware of unconscious thoughts can help to relieve mental distress
• Burrhus F. Skinner (1904-1990)/Joseph Wolpe (1915-1997). Idea: Learning through behavioral exposure helps people to, for example, lose irrational fears. From the 1950s this gave rise to “behavioral therapies.”
• Albert Ellis (1913-2017)/Aaron T. Beck (1921-2021). Idea: Unhealthy thoughts are conscious enough for becoming aware of them and can be addressed by logical dialogue. From the 1960s, this gave rise to “cognitive therapy (CT),” which later was combined with behavioral techniques and now usually is called “cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).”
• Steven C. Hayes (1948-). Idea: Thoughts, especially those that occur repetitively to us in words, are potentially dangerous, and we should maintain a choice how we let them affect us. Developed from the 1980s, his psychotherapy method Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is representative of a set of therapies that embrace principles of the above-mentioned behavioral and cognitive therapies but are less mechanical in their approach and focus more on a person’s relationship to thought and emotion than on their content. Together they can be named as “third wave of behavioral and cognitive therapies” (e.g., Zettle et al. 2005; Hayes and Hoffman 2021). Other big names in the development of third-wave therapies are Marsha M. Linehan (1943-), Robert J. Kohlenberg (1937-2021) and Mavis Tsai, and Zindel Segal (1956-).
Furthermore, characteristic for ACT is the central concept that people need to learn to be more psychologically flexible, including learning how to notice their own thoughts with openness, and to consciously Accept their own experience without avoidance or clinging (be one with the present moment which is a concept not unlike in Buddhism) and Commit to building life habits linked to their deepest values. Mindfulness, consciously becoming one with the moment and the history it contains, is an important subset of psychological flexibility skills in ACT. ACT understands itself as a behavioral as well as cognitive approach because it considers new experiences necessary for breaking unhealthy thinking patterns (expressed in the pronunciation of its name as the verb “act”).
Before ACT had matured, Prof. Hayes developed Relational Frame Theory (RFT), which has been named a “theory on language from the behaviorist perspective.” RFT was first presented in 1985 and first published in book form in 2001. It describes that our language and thinking involves networks of derived bi-directional and combinatorial relations rather than mere chains of associations between isolated elements (abstractions/words) of our experiences. These networks of derived relations are very deep, and—coming to the therapy part deriving from this concept—to avoid being sucked into their repeating cauldron (if that would be negative) we need new experiences (new behaviors) to derive new relations.
A recent development in psychotherapy promoted by Prof. Hayes is Process-based therapy (PBT) (Hoffman and Hayes 2018). I hope to summarize correctly that its idea is to move away from overarching dogmas of different schools of psychotherapy (e.g., classical CBT or ACT) and, also, from syndrome definitions (e.g., manic depression). Instead, the ideal is to use evidence-based analysis to see which process of change, from whatever school, works well for an individual patient (based on their idiographic network of interrelations of processes and outcomes).
Prof. Hayes has authored >47 books and >675 publications, which according to Google Scholar have generated >119,000 citations and an h-index of 149. Currently, Google Scholar ranks him as the 935th most cited among living scholars in all areas of study! In 1992, he was listed by the Institute for Scientific Information as the 30th-highest-impact psychologist in the world.
ACT has become quite big. The Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS), a society that Prof. Hayes formed in 2005 that is focused especially on his work in ACT and RFT, now has more than 9,300 members, with 45 chapters (divisions) in 18 languages around the world. On ACT, there have now been over 1,000 randomized controlled trials, over 350 meta-analyses or systematic reviews, and over 4,000 studies of other kinds. ACT is currently listed as an evidence-based psychotherapy by the American Psychological Association (2022) for a number of psychiatric conditions, including Depression, Psychosis, Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder, Chronic Pain, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, and Mixed Anxiety Disorders. ACT is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the management of chronic pain in children, and it is distributed by WHO in 20 languages to prevent mental health problems as the result of war (see also Epping-Jordan et al. 2016).
Prof. Hayes is one of the leaders of the psychotherapy community, and already for that alone it is a very big honor to receive him as our guest. He is an AAAS Fellow and has been president of the American Psychological Association’s (APA’s) Division 25 (Behavior Analysis), the American Association of Applied and Preventive Psychology, and the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy (ABCT). Currently, he is president of the Institute for Better Health, Santa Rosa, California. He was the first secretary-treasurer of the Association for Psychological Science, which he helped form, and he served a 5-year term on the National Institutes of Health’s National Advisory Council for Drug Abuse and a 1-year term for Adult Mood and Anxiety Disorder. Furthermore, he holds and has held many editorial positions (see his CV below).
Prof. Hayes has received numerous awards, including the prestigious Exemplary Contributions to Basic Behavioral Research and Its Applications Award from Division 25 (Experimental Analysis of Behavior) of the American Psychological Association in 2000, the Impact of Science on Application award from the Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis in 2007, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy in 2007.
Prof. Hayes is a captivating speaker, as you can see in his two TEDx talks, both from 2016 (1st TEDx Talk) (2nd TEDx Talk). These videos have been watched >780,000 and >420,000 times (He truly is a star!!). In his 1st TEDx talk he explains that his ACT ideas were also based on his personal route of learning how to deal with anxieties and panic attacks.
I know Professor Hayes from when Professor Toshiharu Nagatsu of Fujita Health University and I wrote an article (2022) in which ACT was prominently featured besides two other psychotherapies. I am not a psychologist, and this travel into psychotherapy was quite intense and even emotional as I tried some of what I read on myself. Possibly because we are both scientists and share an inclination for abstraction, I felt a connection to Prof. Hayes’ way of thinking, and because Prof. Nagatsu and I had dedicated so much efforts to this paper, I wanted to know what Prof. Hayes thought about the contents. Luckily, he replied, and he was positive about our understanding of ACT. More importantly, he answered from a very genuine human place, not as an automatism at all, which is a memory that I cherish.
I am very honored that he will give us a presentation. Psychotherapy and its principles are not only very interesting and important from scientific and medical point of view, but also in our everyday human lives.
CURRICULUM VITAE
Youth Born in Philadelphia, 1948; Grew up in Southern California
Educational History
1966-1970 Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California
Major: Psychology
Minor: Philosophy
1970 Degree: B.A., Cum Laude,
1966‑1969 Honors: California State Scholar,
1967‑1970 Member of Honors Program,
Honors Program Thesis: A comparison of response prevention, shaping, and observation
in the reduction of avoidance behavior (Chairperson: Irving Kessler, Ph.D.)
1971‑1972 (dates attended) California State University at San Diego, San Diego, California
Major: Psychology
1972-1977 West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia
Major: Clinical Psychology
Minor: Experimental Psychology (Learning)
1974 Degree: M.A. in Clinical Psychology
Thesis: Environmentally Destructive Walking Patterns: An Applied Analysis (Chairperson:
John D. Cone, Ph.D.)
1977 Degree: Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology (APA approved)
Dissertation: The Effects of Monthly Feedback, Rebate Billing, and Consumer Directed
Feedback on Residential Energy Consumption (Chairperson: John D. Cone, Ph.D.)
Professional Positions
1973‑1974 Instructor, West Virginia University
1973 Psychology Trainee, Veteran’s Administration Hospital, Salem, Virginia.
Full‑time position (summer)
Supervisor: James Hughes, Ph.D., Unit Psychologist
1973‑1974 Psychologist Trainee, Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons, Robert F. Kennedy
Youth Center, Morgantown, West Virginia.
Three‑quarter time position during the school year, full time during the summer
Supervisor: V. Scott Johnson, Coordinator of Mental Health
1975 Administrative Assistant to the Clinical Director, West Virginia University. Quarter-time
position
Supervisor: Robert P. Hawkins, Director of Clinical Training
1975 Administrative Trainee, West Virginia University. Quarter‑time position,
Supervisor: Roger F. Maley, Department Chairperson
1975‑1976 Psychology Intern, Brown University, School of Medicine.
Full‑time position. (Internship APA Approved)
Supervisor: David H. Barlow, Director of Education and Training
1976-1986 Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
1976‑1977 Instructor;
1977‑1982 Assistant Professor
1982‑1986 Associate Professor
(Promoted to Full Professor in 1986, but left before assuming these duties)
1986-present Department of Psychology, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada
1986‑1993; 2013-2015 Professor and Director of Clinical Training
1992-present University of Nevada Foundation Professor
1994 Acting Chair
1994-2002 Chair
Honors and Awards
1985 Fellow, Division 25 – The Experimental Analysis of Behavior of the American Psychological Association
1986 Fellow, Division 12 Clinical Psychology of the American Psychological Association
1989 Fellow, American Psychological Society
1991 Fellow, American Association of Applied and Preventive Psychology
1992 Listed by the Institute for Scientific Information and the American Psychological Society as 30th highest citation impact psychologist in the world psychological literature, 1986-1990
1993 Fellow, Western Psychological Association
1997 University of Nevada, Reno Outstanding Researcher of the Year University and Community College System of Nevada
2000 Regents’ Researcher of the Year Award
2000 Don F. Hake Award for Exemplary Contributions to Basic Behavioral Research and Its Applications. Division 25 (Experimental Analysis of Behavior) of the American Psychological Association
2000 Distinguished Alumnus Award, Eberly College of Arts and Sciences West Virginia University
2001 Award for Excellence, Nevada Tobacco Prevention Coalition
2002 Fellow, American College of Mental Health Administration
2005 Listed as the 25th highest impact clinical faculty members in the USA based on productivity and citation impact.
2006 Nevada Psychological Association James Mikawa Psychologist of the Year Award
2006 Michael Twohig’s Dissertation (Steven C. Hayes, Chair) received the Dissertation of the Year award from the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies
2007 Listed as the 9th most productive out of 1,927 clinical faculty members in the USA, 2000-2004.
2007 Impact of Science on Application Award, Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis
2007 Lifetime Achievement Award, Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies
2010 B. F. Skinner Award, Palo Alto University
2010 Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Self-Help Book of Merit Award, for Hayes, S. C., & Smith, S. (2005). Get out of your mind and into your life: The new Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger.
2013 Fellow, Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS)
2015 Fellow, Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT)
2015 Fellow, Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI)
2016 Listed as a High Impact Scholar based on Google Scholar citations exceeding an H index of 100 (www.webometrics.com)
2019 Named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
2021 Advisory Board, Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN)
2022 Nevada System of Higher Education Regents’ Distinguished Career Researcher Award
H. Professional Activities
1. Professional Societies: Elected Positions
1982‑1985 Member-at-large, Executive Committee, Division 25 (Experimental Analysis of Behavior), American Psychological Association
1983‑1990 Member, Board of Directors, Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
1984‑1986 Secretary, Southeastern Association for Behavior Analysis
1985 Secretary-Treasurer, Board of Directors, Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
1985‑1986 President‑Elect, Division 25 (Experimental Analysis of Behavior), American Psychological Association
1986‑1987 President, Division 25 (Experimental Analysis of Behavior), American Psychological Association
1987‑1988 Secretary-Treasurer, Assembly for Scientific and Applied Psychology
1987‑1988 Past-President, Division 25 (Experimental Analysis of Behavior), American Psychological Association
1988-1989 Secretary-Treasurer, American Psychological Society
1988‑1990 Member, American Psychological Association Council of Representatives, Representing Division 25 (Experimental Analysis of Behavior)
1989 Secretary, Board of Directors, Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
1989 Member, Committee on the Structure and Function of Council, American Psychological Association Council of Representatives
1992-1994 Member-at-Large, American Association of Applied and Preventive Psychology
1993-1994 Vice-President, American Association of Applied and Preventive Psychology
1994-1996 President, American Association of Applied Preventive Psychology
1996-1997 President-Elect, Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy
1997-1998 President, Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy
1998-1999 Past-President, Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy
2006-2007 President-Elect, Association for Contextual Behavioral Science
2007-2008 President, Association for Contextual Behavioral Science
2008-2009 Past-President, Association for Contextual Behavioral Science
2008-2010 Chair, World Congress of Cognitive and Behavioral and Therapies
2. Agencies and Professional Societies: Appointed Positions
1977 Member, Ad Hoc Committee on Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy Reorganization
1978 Student Affairs Coordinator, Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy
1978 Student Affairs Coordinator, Southeastern Division, Division 25 (Experimental Analysis of Behavior), American Psychological Association
1977-1978 Film Program Chairperson, Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy
1977-1978 Student Affairs Coordinator, The Southeastern Association for Behavior Therapy
1977‑1980 Student Affairs Coordinator, Section III (Clinical Psychology as an Experimental Behavioral Science) of Division 12 (Clinical Psychology), American Psychological Association
1979 Associate Program Chairperson, Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy
1980 Program Chairperson, Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy
1980‑1981 Chairperson, Task Force on Student Involvement, Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy
1980‑1982 Program Co‑Chairperson, Division 25 (Experimental Analysis of Behavior), American Psychological Association
1980‑1982 Member, Program Committee, Southeastern Psychological Association
1980‑1983 Continuing Education Chairperson, Division 25 (Experimental Analysis of Behavior), American Psychological Association
1980‑1983 Division 25 (Experimental Analysis of Behavior) Liaison to the American Psychological Association Continuing Education Committee
1982‑1983 Chairperson, Long-Term Planning Committee, Division 25 (Experimental Analysis of Behavior), American Psychological Association
1986‑1989 Member, Advisory Board, Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies
1987 Founded and chaired the organizing committee for the Assembly for Scientific and Applied Psychology (the progenitor of the American Psychological Society)
1987 Founding Chair, Theoretical and Philosophical Issues Special Interest Group, Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy
1989 Member of Program Committee, Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy
1989 Program Co-chair, Western Psychological Association
1991 Program Review Committee, American Psychological Society
1991 Chair, Higher Education Committee, American Association of Applied and Preventive Psychology
Chair, Clinical Database Committee, Council of University Directors of Clinical Psychology 1991-1992
1995 Consultant, Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy, Practice Guidelines Committee for Psychiatric Evaluation of Adults
1997-2001 Co-Chair, Practice Guidelines Coalition
1998 Chair, Ad Hoc Committee on International Convention Involvement
1999-2000 Member, Program Committee, American College of Mental Health Administration
1999-2003 Member, Sub-Committee on Community Members of Scientific Review Committees, National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health
1999-2003 Member, Clinical Trials Network Advisory Committee, National Institute on Drug Abuse
1999-2003 Member, National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health
2001-2003 Member, International Affairs Sub-Committee National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse
2001-2003 Member, Executive Committee National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse
2002-2003 Member, Task Force on Empirically Supported Treatments National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse
2003 Member, Clinical Trials Network Work Group, National Institute on Drug Abuse
2003-2006 (term) Trustee, Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies
2005-2007 Member, Board of Directors, Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies
2006-2007 Member, Interventions Committee for Adult Mood and Anxiety Disorders, National Institute of Mental Health
2007-2010 Chair, International Affairs Committee Association for Behavior and Cognitive Therapies
2010-2011 Member, Board of Directors, Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences
2010-2012 Chair, Membership Committee, Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS)
2011-present Member, Board of Scientific Advisors, Evolution Institute
2012-2014 Chair, Chapter and Special Interest Group Committee, Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS)
2015-2016 Member, Scientific Committee, 9th International Congress of the International Association for Cognitive Psychotherapy (IACP)
2015-2019 Chair, Publications Committee, Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS)
2015-present Member, PROSOCIAL Executive Committee
2017 – 2020 Member, Scientific Committee, 10th International Congress of Cognitive Psychotherapy of the International Association for Cognitive Psychotherapy (IACP) in Rome, June 2020.
2019-2021 Chair, ACBS Task Force on the Strategies and Tactics of Contextual Behavioral Science Research
2021 Member, Open Science Sub-committee, ACBS Task Force on the Strategies and Tactics of Contextual Behavioral Science Research
2021- present President, Institute for Better Health
I. Editorial Activities
1974‑1975 Editor, The Student Recorder
1979‑1982 Editorial Consultant, Behavioral Assessment
1980‑1983 Associate Editor, Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis
1983 Guest Associate Editor, Behavioral Assessment
1987 Guest Associate Editor, Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis
1987-1988 Editor, As Soon As Possible (Newsletter of the Assembly for Scientific and Applied Psychology)
1988-1989 Founding Editor, APS Observer (Newsletter of the American Psychological Society)
1988-1989 Managing Editor, Behavior Analysis
1990 Co-Editor, Special issue of the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management
1990-1999 Series Co-Editor, International Institute on Verbal Relations, Context Press
1990 Co-Editor, Special issue of Behavioral Assessment on DSM-IV
1990-1992 Founding Editor, The Scientist Practitioner (Newsletter of the Association for Applied and Preventative Psychology)
1991-1998 Managing Editor, The Interbehaviorist
2002 Advisory Board, Encyclopedia of Behavior Modification and Therapy
2006-present Series Editor, Mindfulness and Acceptance, New Harbinger
2010-present International Advisory Board for the journal Mindfulness
2011-present International Advisory Board, Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy
2012-present Advisory Board for the Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science
2015-present Series Editor, Process-based CBT, New Harbinger
2015-present Series Editor, Evolution Science, New Harbinger
2016 Guest Associate Editor, Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis
2019-2021 Guest Editor of a Special Issue on Evolutionary Science and Clinical Psychology. Clinical Psychology Review.
Member of the Board of Editors:
Past Positions:
1978 – 1980 Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis
1979 – 1983 Behavior Modification
1979 – 1985 Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
1982 – 1988 The Behavior Analyst
1982 – 1988 Behavior Analysis and Social Action
1983 – 1992 Behavioral Assessment
1983 – 1995 Residential Behavioral Treatment
1984 – 2010 Acta Comportamentalia: Revista Latina de Analysis del Compartamiento
1985 – 2009 The Analysis of Verbal Behavior
1986 – 1989 Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
1988 – 1989 Behavior Analysis
1990 – 2010 Behavioral and Social Issues
1990 – 2011 The Psychological Record
1998 – 2001 Behavioral Interventions
2004 – 2010 Applied and Preventive Psychology: Current Scientific Perspectives
2006 – 2010 Anuario de Psicología
Current Positions:
Behavior and Philosophy 1983 – present
1992 – present Behaviour Research and Therapy
1997 – present Suma Psicologica
2001 – present International Journal of Psychology and Psychological Therapy
2013 – present Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice
2012 – present Psicologica
Selected Publications
of the ⁓700 article and book titles, only those with >4000 citations at Google Scholar are listed
Articles
Hayes, S. C. (2004) Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Relational Frame Theory, and the third wave of behavioral and cognitive therapies. Behavior Therapy, 35, 639-665. Republished in 2016 (cited 4215x)
Books
