Association for Behavior Analysis International

A natural science approach to human behavior requires us to consider the role of the observer in our analysis of our phenomena of interest (Skinner, 1945; Kantor, 1924). In applied clinical contexts, this means including the therapist’s behavior in our analysis of client behavior. However, the preponderance of the research into therapist behaviors in psychotherapy has been oriented toward the efficacy of specific therapeutic approaches and protocols, or mediating constructs such as the therapeutic relationship (Horvath & Luborsky, 1993; Martin et al., 2000). In order to directly analyze the therapeutic interaction, what may be needed is a behavioral analysis of therapist behavior in terms of the contexts they create for client behavior in assessment and intervention. The papers within this symposium will examine several specific repertoires of therapist behavior that may hold promise in improving a clinician’s effectiveness in their work with clients: clinical note taking, clinical supervision, cultural humility, and the role of relational therapeutic narrative.

Target audience might include clinicians, clinicians in training, students and those in applied behavioral analysis

Clinical tools for behavior analysts in applied and clinical settings facilitate multiple aspects of the therapeutic process. In particular, a clinician’s method of data collection or note taking serves many purposes, such as the legal documentation of services (Cameron & Turtle-Song, 2002), monitoring client behavior patterns and functioning (Presser & Pfost, 1985), treatment planning and goals (Cameron & Turtle-Song, 2002), and storing client data for the clinician to refer to in the course of their work (Presser & Pfost, 1985). Research in this area consists primarily of comparative studies on the utility, efficiency, and accuracy of various data collection techniques (Taubman et al., 2013; Wiarda et al., 2014). Although the current literature suggests that a therapist’s notes may have direct implications on the therapeutic process (Taubman et al., 2013), the empirical literature has not yet explored the ways that note taking and data collection tools function for the clinician’s behaviors when working with clients. This talk will review findings from a preliminary study on the effects of using note taking style as a means of intervening on therapist in-session behaviors. The implications of targeting clinical processes through note taking will be discussed and ideas for future research in this area will be explored

Behavior analysis is increasingly oriented to the application of functional perspectives to clinical supervision. Across the helping professions, however, research into the effectiveness of clinical supervision and its relationship to therapeutic outcomes continues to lag behind other areas of effectiveness research (Goodyear et al., 2016; Owen, 2015; Kuhne, Wiesenthal, & Weck, 2019). In addition, theoretical development of models of clinical supervision have stagnated (Falender & Shafranske, 2017). Given that clinical supervision is a universally-required aspect of professional clinical training across the helping professions, a model of supervision consistent with the philosophical assumptions of a natural science of human behavior is needed. Clinical Behavior Analysis can offer an empirically-supported approach focused on expanding clinician’s repertoires in the presence of context that occasion constriction of clinically relevant behavior. However, to date, behavior analytic clinical supervision has yet to receive a novel conceptual analysis through the lens of J.R. Kantor’s Interbehaviorism (Kantor, 1924). Building upon prior Interbehavioral analyses of clinical phenomena (e.g., Sandoz, 2020) and given the utility of the perspective for the practitioner, the present paper will examine the ways in which Interbehaviorism could promote behavioral clinician-scientist sensitivity and effectiveness in psychotherapy, via the supervisory dyad.

The differences between psychoanalysis and behaviorism (in all its forms) are so great and wide-ranging that it often appears difficult to know where to start. Because of multiple epistemological and language system barriers, it can be difficult for a consumer of behavioral science to examine what concepts (if any) are useful from psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Despite this, some clinicians with familiarity with both perspectives will assert that psychoanalytic processes can provide benefits that transcend its structural mentalistic framework. In the current talk, some of the therapeutic principles outlined in Roy Schafer's The Analytic Attitude (1983) will be presented. This version of psychoanalysis will be framed as the co-creation of an evolving therapeutic narrative, expanding the range of choices for the client. Some commonalities that this approach may share with some of the so-called "third-wave" behavioral therapies will be explored as well as differences. Possible directions of how to explore these convergent/divergent processes will be discussed, as well as a consideration of the relevance of asking such questions in the first place.