Evaluating In-Session Therapist and Client Behaviors from a Contextual Behavioral Science Perspective

This chapter shows how the principles of contextual behavioral science (CBS) can be applied in understanding how interchanges between therapists and their clients eventuate in behavioral change both inside and outside of the clinical setting. Within this larger endeavor, three main areas are covered: (a) the targets of assessment in therapy, (b) the strategies to measure psychological problems in session, and (c) the strategies to measure changes in client and therapist in-session behaviors. From a CBS perspective, three main categories of psychological problems can occur, all defined by a different relationship between a behavior and its context. Avoidance and escape correspond to behaviors people do to discount or remove aversive events. Clinically relevant behaviors can also happen spontaneously in therapy. Due to different behavioral topographies that can have the same function, therapists must be ready to notice occurrences of relevant behaviors.