I've always been confused by the fact that most counselling and psychotherapy research quotes the relationship as being the main agent of change, and yet CBT – which has the biggest and strongest evidence base – doesn't place great emphasis on this. Or so I understood until recently. It wasn't until I was looking round for speakers for our annual training conference later in the year, It's The Relationship That Matters, that I came across the concept of Relational CBT…

In this issue, two writers attempt to clarify some of the myths and misunderstandings that have built up in the counselling world about CBT. Frank Wills looks at the source of some of the prejudices against CBT and explains why he believes that counsellors, having already been trained to listen, would be best placed to fill the shortfall in Lord Layard's proposals that 10,000 new CBT practitioners should work with people receiving unemployment benefits for mental health problems. Tony Roth looks more closely than probably most of us will yet have done at what Lord Layard's proposals actually are and where they come from ie from a radical and idealistic vision to increase happiness in the general population.

Which is, of course, also the main aim of positive psychology, as outlined in our lead article.

We have some very sad news to add this month: Caroline Jones, book reviews editor and longtime member of our editorial team, was tragically killed in a car accident three weeks ago. We are not publishing book reviews this month and will be writing a tribute to Caroline in a forthcoming issue.

Sarah Browne, Editor