Insight in terms of Behavior in the Clinical Context: Transfer and Rule-governed Behavior

Abstract

The clinical significance of this article is to propose a better understanding of the insight phenomenon in terms of behavior analysis, with the aim of elucidating a phenomenon that may be important to improve clinical practice.Insight is a phenomenon studied in various areas in psychology, from cognitive science through the analysis of the subject's responses in problem solving (e.g., Kounios & Beeman, 2014) to psychological therapy and its role in clinical change (e.g., Høglend & Hagtvet, 2019). It is a phenomenon that has been analyzed over the years from both theoretical and empirical approaches; however, it seems there is not agreed definition or explanation of its operation (Shen et al., 2018). The aim of this paper is to present a conceptual critique, define, and propose theoretical explanations from the analysis of behavior on insight-type events in psychotherapy in order to clarify the possible relevance of its role in clinical change and propose relevant variables for its study. Conceptualization of Insight in PsychotherapyTraditionally, insight has been considered as a mentalistic causal phenomenon that occurs in a ravishing way on the client. It has been defined as the understanding of penetrating interpersonal patterns, the recognition of the relation of a present behavior and a past event or the knowledge of certain defenses and their purposes (Blagys & Hilsenroth, 2000). It has been defined through four elements:(1) a metaphorical illumination that involves looking inward; (2) the identification of patterns or links involving reasons, causes or categories; (3) its suddenness and (4) its novelty or sense of discovery Clínica y Salud (2022) xx(x) xx-xx