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Congratulations to ABCT President-Elect, Steven A. Safren, Ph.D.

New & Noteworthy

We at ABCT wish to extend our sincerest congratulations to our President-Elect, Steven A. Safren, Ph.D., for his Distinguished Faculty Scholar Award from the University of Miami. This award, for which he was nominated by Phillip M. McCabe, the professor and chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of Miami, celebrates the many significant accomplishments of Safren’s clinical practice and research. Says Phillip M. McCabe, “He is a truly exceptional scholar, teacher, and University citizen. He has my highest recommendation.”

Of major note is the Center for HIV and Research in Mental Health (CHARM), which Safren founded in 2015; an interdisciplinary meeting of multiple departments, bringing together the Nursing and Health Studies programs, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Miller School of Medicine. CHARM, which is funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, is one of only seven full HIV/AIDS facilities in the nation.

Much of Safren’s scholarly work in the area of HIV involves using cognitive behavioral therapy to address mental health and substance use in the context of health behaviors, both domestically and globally. While medications effectively prevent and treat HIV, many persons living with HIV have difficulty adequately adhering to the life-saving regimens. Safren developed and tested one of the first evidence-based interventions to address this, called “Life-Steps,” which is now used all over the world in both clinical and research settings. Mental health problems like depression make adherence even harder for those living with HIV.

Safren also developed and tested “Cognitive behavioral therapy for adherence and depression; CBT-AD,” which integrates his CBT-based adherence counseling with CBT for depression. CBT-AD has shown consistent effects in randomized trials on improved adherence to antiretroviral therapy and decreased depression in U.S. studies, as well as effects on HIV RNA viral load in a trial in South Africa, which enrolled people living with HIV that had detectable virus. Safren’s HIV work also entails using tenets of CBT as part of behavioral and bio-behavioral HIV prevention studies, with a particular focus on sexual and gender minority populations both domestically and internationally.

Safren earned his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University at Albany State University of New York and trained at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School specializing in cognitive behavior therapy.

Safren is the Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy’s President-Elect; previously, he had served as Coordinator of Publications and was Editor of ABCT’s clinical journal, Cognitive and Behavioral Practice. 

Related Information

Suggested Resources

What Is Cognitive Behavior Therapy?

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a type of treatment that is based firmly on research findings.  It places emphasis on changing your cognitions (thoughts) or behaviors (actions) in order to effect change in how you feel. These approaches help people in achieving specific changes or goals.

Changes or goals might involve:

A way of acting: like smoking less or being more outgoing;
A way of feeling: like helping a person to be less scared, less depressed, or less anxious;
A way of thinking: like learning to problem-solve or get rid of self-defeating thoughts;
A way of dealing with physical or medical problems: like reducing back pain or helping a person stick to a doctor’s suggestions.

Cognitive behavioral therapists usually focus more on the current situation and its solution, rather than the past. They concentrate on a person’s views and beliefs about their life. CBT is an effective treatment for individuals, parents, children, couples, and families. The goal of CBT is to help people improve and gain more control over their lives by changing behaviors that don’t work well to ones that do.

How to Get Help

If you are looking for help, either for yourself or someone else, you may be tempted to call someone who advertises in a local publication or who comes up from a search of the Internet. You may, or may not, find a competent therapist in this manner. It is wise to check on the credentials of a psychotherapist. It is expected that competent therapists hold advanced academic degrees. They should be listed as members of professional organizations, such as the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies or the American Psychological Association. Of course, they should be licensed to practice in your state. You can find competent specialists who are affiliated with local universities or mental health facilities or who are listed on the websites of professional organizations. You may, of course, visit our website (www.abct.org) and click on “Find a CBT Therapist”

The Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) is an interdisciplinary organization committed to the advancement of a scientific approach to the understanding and amelioration of problems of the human condition. These aims are achieved through the investigation and application of behavioral, cognitive, and other evidence-based principles to assessment, prevention, and treatment.