159 Address for Correspondence: Associate Professor V. Bitsika, Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences, Bond University, Gold Coast, QLD 4229, Australia. E-mail: vbitsika@bond.edu.au Australian Journal of Guidance & Counselling Volume 16 Number 2 2006 ▲ pp. 159–175 ▲ ▲ Treating the Client Rather Than the Symptoms: Moving Beyond Manualised Treatments in Psychotherapy Vicki Bitsika Bond University, Australia Christopher F. Sharpley Lifeworkplay, Coolangatta, Australia and Krongold Centre, Monash University, Australia T here have been some challenges to the reliance upon data from randomised con- trolled clinical trials when identifying ‘evidence-based’ psychotherapy treatments. Similarly, data show that use of treatment manuals does not result in uniform and beneficial outcomes, that some evidence- based treatments are little better than non-specific counselling and that the search for those therapies or components that are effective has been largely fruitless. In an attempt to extend the debate about evidence-based treatments and drawing upon those aspects of cogni- tive and behavioural therapies that have been shown to be effective in most settings, this article describes valued outcomes analysis and therapy as a means of assisting clients to understand their own behav- iour as (sometimes unwanted) adaptations to environmental demands and then to learn alternative ways of achieving the goals they pursue. A case illustration is provided. The search for ‘what works best with whom and when’ has occupied counselling and psychotherapy practitioners and researchers for several decades (e.g., Barlow, 1996; Luborsky, Singer, & Luborsky, 1975; Smith & Glass, 1977). In the fields of coun- selling, guidance, psychology, psychotherapy and related activities, this search has most recently focused upon two developments: standardised diagnostic procedures (e.g., the DSM series) and similarly standardised treatment regimes, often referred to as ‘manualised’ treatments. These developments have been collected into what Kendall (1998) referred to as ‘empirically supported therapies’ (p. 3), sometimes also referred to as ‘evidence-based therapies’ and have been strongly recommended across