Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP)

A therapeutic model of social connection derived from Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP) that applies to both the client’s outside-of-therapy relationships and the psychotherapeutic relationship is explored in two studies. The model integrates established behavioral principles with existing research on the reciprocal process of self-disclosure and responsiveness that occurs during development of intimate relationships to highlight a promising therapeutic process. In this process, self-disclosure (“courage” in FAP’s model) is evoked by the therapist and then reinforced with therapeutic responsiveness (“love” in the FAP model) resulting in improved self-disclosure and more connectedness in the therapy and other relationships. Study 1 included a sample of 77 undergraduate participants who self-disclosed responses to a series of closeness generating questions to undergraduate research assistants trained in responsiveness. Findings indicated that social connection increased following this full procedure. Study 2 included a sample of 99 undergraduate participants and provided evidence that the responsiveness of the research assistant is key to promoting increased feelings of connectedness and also improves the depth of disclosure.

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A brief, group mindfulness intervention targeting both state mindfulness and social connectedness was developed based on Functional Analytic Psychotherapy׳s model of awareness, courage, and love. A total of 114 college students were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (1) a nature video control, (2) a traditional intrapersonal mindfulness intervention focused on awareness of breath and private stimuli such as bodily sensations, thoughts, and feelings, or (3) an interpersonal mindfulness intervention that emphasized (a) expanding awareness from private internal to external public stimuli associated with the presence of others, (b) a contemplation of common humanity and risks participants could take to improve a specific relationship, and (c) a brief small group interaction involving courageous sharing of these risks. Results indicated significant benefits of all three conditions with respect to state mindfulness with both mindfulness conditions outperforming the nature video, and significant benefits of both mindfulness conditions with respect to social connectedness, with the interpersonal mindfulness condition outperforming the intrapersonal condition. Limitations include no follow-up data to explore the maintenance of gains over time.

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This article explores some tensions between contextual behavioral science (CBS) and radical behaviorism or behavior analysis (BA), particularly with respect to the study of emotion. We contrast Darrow and Follette's (2014) discussion of alexithymia from a radical behavioral perspective, which we view as representing a traditional behavior analytic approach, with a CBS approach, as we understand it. As a convenient anchor for our discussion, we discuss how CBS and BA might view the term "love." We present suggestions for how "love" may be used as a middle-level term in a CBS approach, and why usage of such middle-level terms is important to the mission of CBS to create a science more adequate to the challenges of the human condition.

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The evidence based assessment (EBA) movement stresses the importance of psychological measures with strong psychometric properties and clinical utility. The Functional Idiographic Assessment Template system (FIAT; Callaghan, 2006) is a functional analytic behavioral approach to the assessment of interpersonal functioning for use with therapies like Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP; Kohlenberg & Tsai, 1991). While research has begun to demonstrate the clinical utility of the FIAT, its psychometric properties have not been explored. The present study examines the Functional Idiographic Assessment Template - Questionnaire (FIAT-Q), a self-report measure contained in the FIAT. Two different approaches are used to explore the psychometric properties and structure of the FIAT-Q, and test-retest reliability is examined. These methods are discussed along with the use of the FIAT-Q as an alternative to nosological assessment of client behaviors.

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Basic behavioral principles (e.g., reinforcement) are compelling candidates for research isolating and evaluating psychotherapy mechanisms of change in contextual behavioral science. Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP) is a contextual behavioral treatment approach that teaches therapists to employ behavioral principles, including the evocation of and contingent responding with reinforcement to client behavior live in session, as its hypothesized mechanism of change. FAP also facilitates generalization of in-session improvements to out-of-session contexts. This study evaluated the effect of the active components of FAP – evoking behavior, contingently responding to behavior, and generalizing improvement – on individual target variables of four clients in an A/A+B design. Relationship building aspects of FAP occurred in the A phase; active components were added in the A+B phase. All clients showed changes in target variables after the phase shift per visual inspection, with largely consistent results using simulation modeling analysis. One client dropped out of treatment after the phase shift. Results provide support for FAP's active components as causing the desired changes and move the research closer to isolating specific behavioral principles as the mechanism of change in FAP. Limitations and cautions are discussed.

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