Behavioral psychotherapy and the rise of clinical behavior analysis

Abstract

Defines clinical behavior analysis as that part of applied behavior analysis that applies the assumptions, principles and methods of modern functional contextual behavior analysis to the range of problems, settings, and issues typically confronted by clinical psychologists working in outpatient settings including the identification of the variables and processes that play a role in the development, maintenance, and treatment of clinical disorders. It is noted that clinical behavior analysts have paid special attention to the role and use of verbal events in disorders and their treatment based on a behavioral interpretation of the processes and principles involved in language and cognition. The authors show that this emphasis has removed the barriers that previously existed to the development of clinical behavior analysis, namely, the treatment of private events as epiphenomena and extreme skepticism about indirect verbal methods of behavior change. Four examples of systems of treatment in clinical behavior analysis (dialectical behavior therapy, integrative couple's therapy, functional analytic psychotherapy, and acceptance and commitment therapy) are discussed and are argued to be recognizably related to the assumptions of modern contextual behavioral thinking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved) (from the chapter)