Cowritten with the founders of functional analytic psychotherapy, Functional Analytic Psychotherapy Made Simple offers a practical, behavioral treatment approach focused on client interpersonal relationships and the therapeutic relationship. Functional analytic psychotherapy (FAP) is a research-based treatment for mental health disorders and has been shown to enhance the quality of interpersonal relationships. If you’re a therapist, how you relate to your clients can have a profound impact on treatment outcomes. This book integrates the latest research on the importance of the therapist-client relationship with the new science of social connection into a user-friendly, flexible clinical framework. In this book, you’ll find an introduction to the conceptual foundations and clinical practice of FAP, with an emphasis on practical clinical scenarios and personal reflection. You’ll learn the theoretical basis of FAP in contextual behavioral science and how to apply functional analysis—the core assessment method of behavior therapy—to the therapeutic relationship. You’ll learn to understand the therapeutic relationship and social connection in terms of the Awareness, Courage, and Love model. You’ll also learn how to balance authenticity and compassion with strategy and case conceptualization to make your therapeutic relationships more compassionate, flexible, and effective. And finally, you’ll discover how to apply principles to effectively cope with challenging moments in the therapeutic relationships—such as how to address ineffective behavior happening in the therapy interaction from the first moment of therapy, what to do when therapy does not seem to be progressing, and how to end therapy well. No matter your treatment background, this book will provide invaluable strategies for adopting functional analytic psychotherapy in your practice, enhancing relationships with your clients, and improving overall treatment outcomes.

Following in the steps of the first edition, Functional Analytic Psychotherapy: Distinctive Features, 2nd Edition, provides a history, context, and building blocks for a behavior therapist to incorporate Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP) into their work. This new volume updates material based upon research that has occurred since the first edition, as well as philosophical and theoretical shifts in behavior therapy, such as an emphasis on FAP as a process-based therapy. Each FAP principle is presented in terms of its intended purpose and is clearly linked to the underlying theory, providing clinicians with a straightforward guide for when and how to apply each technique. Practical tips have been added to aid in case conceptualization and the integration of a FAP framework into other process-based, behavioral conceptualizations. The added breadth and depth also emphasize FAP’s unique role in meeting the needs of diverse and marginalized people and applying FAP across diverse settings. This book will be an important read for any student, trainee, or CBT practitioner.

Now in paperback, this classic book offers a powerful framework for clinicians seeking to rethink their approach to the therapeutic relationship. It begins with the theory behind Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP), explaining why clients’ unique needs may extend beyond well-mapped routes to change. From there, the authors present the clinical principles of FAP and their uses in treating diffuse, resistant problems.

Since the earliest years of its development, Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP) has been hailed for its clinical innovation and transformative power with clients across the range of disorders. Building on the foundations of their earlier volumes about this versatile therapy, the editors of The Practice of Functional Analytic Psychotherapy bring together noted clinicians and researchers to explain in depth how FAP can be used in conjunction with a broad spectrum of therapeutic approaches, and with diverse client populations. The hallmarks of the method, including therapist sensitivity and responding to client behavior in the moment, courage, mindfulness, acceptance, and egalitarianism, inform a wide array of interventions and strategies, among them: Integrating FAP with other treatments, including cognitive behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, behavioral activation, psychodynamic therapies, and feminist therapies. Applying FAP across cultures, nationalities, and ethnicities. Employing FAP with couples. Increasing sensitivity to and effectiveness with sexual minority clients. Modifying FAP for developmentally appropriate use with adolescents. Enhancing a team approach with severely mentally ill patients in institutional settings. Strengthening the power of interpersonal process groups. As a new tool or an enhancement to current practice, these applications of FAP will give therapists an empowering complement to their work. The Practice of Functional Analytic Psychotherapy points to compelling directions in personal growth and change—on both sides of the therapeutic bond.

For more than two decades, Functional Analytic Psychotherapy has brought new meaning – and new meaningfulness – to client/therapist relationships. And clients with disorders as varied as depression, PTSD, and fibromyalgia have benefited from its nuanced, curative power. In A Guide to Functional Analytic Psychotherapy, originators Robert Kohlenberg and Mavis Tsai join with other FAP practitioners to present a clinical framework, addressing points of convergence and divergence with other behavior therapies. Tracing FAP’s emerging evidence base, it takes readers through the deep complexities and possibilities of the therapeutic bond. And the attention to mindfulness and the self makes maximum clinical use of the uniqueness of every client – and every therapist.

For the first time ever, CFT Made Simple offers easy-to-apply tools to help clients develop self-compassion, learn mindfulness skills, and balance difficult emotions for greater treatment outcomes. Created by world-renowned psychologist Paul Gilbert, compassion-focused therapy (CFT) is extremely effective in helping clients work through painful feelings of shame and self-criticism. However, the theoretical aspects of this therapy—such as evolutionary psychology, attachment theory, and affective neuroscience—can make CFT difficult to grasp. This book provides everything you need to start implementing CFT in practice, either as a primary therapy modality or as an adjunctive approach to other therapies, such as acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and more. CFT has unique strengths, and is especially effective in helping clients work through troubling thoughts and behaviors, approach themselves and others with greater compassion and kindness, and feel safer and more confident in their ability to handle life’s challenges and difficulties. This book articulates the theoretical basis of the therapy in simple, easy-to-follow language, and offers practical guidance and strategies on how to tailor your CFT approach to specific client populations. As a clinician interested in the benefits of CFT but wary of the dense theoretical principles that lay behind it, you need a user-friendly guide that will let you hit the ground running. CFT Made Simple is that guide.

Originally developed for the treatment of borderline personality disorder, dialectical behavior therapy, or DBT, has rapidly become one of the most popular and most effective treatments for all mental health conditions rooted in out-of-control emotions. However, there are limited resources for psychologists seeking to use DBT skills with individual clients. In the tradition of ACT Made Simple, DBT Made Simple provides clinicians with everything they need to know to start using DBT in the therapy room. The first part of this book briefly covers the theory and research behind DBT and explains how DBT differs from traditional cognitive behavioral therapy approaches. The second part focuses on strategies professionals can use in individual client sessions, while the third section teaches the four skills modules that form the backbone of DBT: core mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. The book includes handouts, case examples, and example therapist-client dialogue—everything clinicians need to equip their clients with these effective and life-changing skills.