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Interpersonal Behavior Therapy (IBT), Functional Assessment, and the Value of Principle-Driven Behavioral Case Conceptualizations

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Abstract

We introduce interpersonal behavior therapy (IBT) in the context of a brief history of evolving paradigms of psychotherapy research and the rise of the third-wave behavior therapies facing the challenges of the introduction of middle-level terms in the service of their dissemination. The article focuses on IBT as a response to the evolution of functional analytic psychotherapy (FAP) and its movement away from behavioral principles and functional assessment. IBT is proposed as a contemporary behavioral treatment whose focus is on interpersonal distress, emphasizes the need for a functional assessment to conceptualize client problems, and utilizes behavioral principles to specify the mechanisms of the problem and mechanisms of clinical change. Largely a retooling of the original proposals in FAP, IBT explicates the mechanism responsible for clinical problems and the corresponding mechanism of clinical change. Moreover, as a behavioral therapy, IBT emphasizes the need for functional assessment in conceptualizing client problems and determining clinical treatments. Finally, we call for a unified return to behavioral assessment across the third-wave therapies. This unified approach may help advance principle-driven treatments for complex forms of human suffering as well as offer a path forward to a program of behavioral science and preserve the longevity of behavioral therapies.

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Notes

  1. We use the term “mechanism” to simplify communication. Our perspective is a functional contextual view rather than a mechanistic perspective (Pepper, 1942). Using the rubric of Hofmann and Hayes (2019b) the reader can understand the relationship between mechanism and therapeutic processes as follows: “Therapeutic processes are the underling change mechanisms that lead to the attainment of a desirable treatment goal. . . . These processes are theory-based and associated with falsifiable and testable predictions. . .” (p. 38).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA, 95192-0120, USA

    Glenn M. Callaghan

  2. University of Nevada, Reno, NV, 89557, USA

    William C. Follette

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  1. Glenn M. Callaghan
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Correspondence to Glenn M. Callaghan.

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Callaghan, G.M., Follette, W.C. Interpersonal Behavior Therapy (IBT), Functional Assessment, and the Value of Principle-Driven Behavioral Case Conceptualizations. Psychol Rec 70, 625–635 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-020-00395-1

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