Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice, Vol 23(3), Aug 2023, 195-206; doi:10.1037/bar0000275
This article describes the practice of functional analytic group therapy, with emphasis on its rationale and strategies. Functional analytic group therapy is a behavioral treatment that harnesses the free operant exchanges among participants in a therapy group to bring their issues into the room and help them to try and find better ways of dealing with them. The interaction between group members offers in-vivo learning opportunities, and the natural consequences of the client’s behavior in the group deliver differential reinforcement. As such, the benefits brought about by the behavior itself provide the reinforcement that strengthens improved target behavior. Arranging for natural consequences to play this role allows shaping behavior that will contact similar consequences outside the group, and it preempts the need to use programmed reinforcers such as therapist approval, that are not part of client’s daily life. A selection of strategies and possibilities for directing this type of group therapy is discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)