Recent efforts to identify “evidence-based psychotherapies” (EBPs) have focused attention on strategies for treatment dissemination; that is, the movement of EBPs into everyday clinical care. Dissemination is complicated by a variety of patient, family, therapist, provider organization, and service system characteristics, including concerns by some that EBPs lack the flexibility needed to fit treatment to individual patient characteristics. The classic book Diffusion of Innovations, and psychotherapy-specific perspectives such as the deployment focused model of intervention development and testing, offer strategies for addressing such dissemination challenges. Prospects for successful dissemination are illustrated by examples of EBP implementation at national, regional, and state levels, and by the rapid spread of specific intervention programs such as dialectical behavior therapy and the Triple-P Positive Parenting Program. Important directions for the future include enriching dissemination models, strengthening methods for evaluating dissemination success, and designing and developing more user-friendly EBPs that are well suited to dissemination.
