Functional analytic psychotherapy: A behavioral relational approach to treatment.

Abstract

Functional analytic psychotherapy (FAP) is a relational approach to psychotherapy that is behavioral, yet involves an intensive, emotional, and in-depth therapy experience. FAP is approachable by therapists of diverse theoretical backgrounds owing to the minimal use of behavioral jargon, and can be used as an addition or complement to other interventions. The methods described in this article-being aware of clients' clinically relevant behaviors, being courageous in evoking clinically relevant behaviors, reinforcing improvements with therapeutic love, using behavioral interpretations to help clients generalize changes to daily life, and providing intensive and personal experiential training of FAP practitioners-maximize the impact of the therapeutic relationship to promote change and personal growth for both clients and therapists.

Relato de Terapeutas sobre o Impacto da Autorrevelação

“…Em relação ao uso da autorrevelação pelos participantes do estudo, foi relatado o uso de autorrevelações em 47,06% dos protocolos preenchidos, o que é um dado potencialmente positivo, uma vez que, segundo Tsai, Yard e Kohlenberg (2014), as autorrevelações podem melhorar a relação terapêutica, demonstrar sinceridade e desenvolver o comportamento de intimidade, por exemplo. 8 -"O paciente passou a ser mais aberto na relação terapêutica" 1 -"O paciente apresentou melhoras fora do contexto terapêutico" 1 -"Outros" 1 -não foi preenchido (26) Houve impacto na relação terapêutica ao longo destas duas semanas?…”

Cognitive Behavioral and Psychodynamic Therapies: Points of Intersection and Divergence

“…Though terminology may differ, there is growing recognition that the ability of a therapist to elicit a maladaptive interpersonal pattern and respond to it differently and more effectively may lead to a corrective experience that will lead to the development of new relational patterns (Goldfried, 2012;Hayes, Beck, & Yasinski, 2012). In fact, a behavioral therapeutic approach has emerged that primarily focuses on the therapeutic relationship: functional analytic psychotherapy (Tsai, Yard, & Kohlenberg, 2014). In functional analytic psychotherapy (FAP), therapists are trained to use the therapeutic relationship to highlight clinically relevant behaviors, provide interpretations, and reinforce improvements.…”

Three modes of psychotherapy and their requisite core skills

“…Although most CBT treatments are probably carried out in an educational and/or reparative mode, some illustrate a developmental mode. One example is Kohlenberg and Tsai's () Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP), with its purpose to develop “intense and curative therapeutic relationships.” A basic principle in FAP is that the therapist should provide natural reinforcement, that is, “connect authentically with their patients just as people connect in the outside world, including sharing, expressing, disclosing, or amplifying reactions to patient behavior” (Tsai et al, , p. 365). In keeping with the CBT paradigm, with its emphasis on analytic‐conceptualising skills, this should be done in a disciplined form, based on an analysis of what kind of new behaviours the patient needs to develop.…”

“…In FAP, this is referred to as “therapeutic love” – “a profound, ethical caring with which therapists encourage patients to grow in the direction of their values” (p. 367) and is seen as the most important mechanism of clinical change. Training in FAP involves the training of quite complex relational‐technical skills, such as “skills of courageous, compassionate, and strategic risk‐taking in the service of patient growth” (Tsai, Yard, & Kohlenberg, , p. 369).…”