Abstract
The quote by McIntosh (1988) reflects a theme that weaves together this chapter on functional analytic psychotherapy (FAP) and feminist therapies. Briefly, psychotherapy is comprised of a series of social encounters fraught with sources of behavioral influence that are subtle, indirect, and generally undetectable by those involved. We will examine the characteristic sources of influence on social behavior (Biglan , 1995; Glenn, 1988; Glenn & Malagoid , 1991; Guerin , 1994; Parott , 1986; Zimmerman , 1963) and make the case that their role within the therapeutic process should be of interest to therapists.
My schooling gave me no training in seeing myself as an oppressor, as an unfairly advantaged person, or as a participant in a damaged culture. I was taught to see myself as an individual whose moral state depended on her individual moral will. My schooling followed the pattern my colleague Elizabeth Minnich has pointed out: whites are taught to think of their lives as morally neutral, normative, and average, and also ideal, so that when we work to benefit others, this is seen as work that will allow “them” to be more like “us.”
(McIntosh , 1988, p. 1)
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Notes
- 1.
Establishing and maintaining an egalitarian therapeutic relationship are not accepted by all feminist schools of therapy (cf., Veldhuis, 2001). Some feminist writers have questioned the necessity and ethics of creating an egalitarian relationship, suggesting that it may inhibit successful therapeutic outcomes (Veldhuis, 2001).
- 2.
In this chapter, the terms behavior analytic and radical contextualist will be used interchangeably. Both terms refer to the theory of behavior in which individual–environment relations, individual learning history, cultural history, and evolution are the proposed mechanisms of behavior change. This theory is often attributed to Skinner (1945, 1974), but has been expanded upon by Hayes, Barnes-Holmes, and Roche (2001), Sidman, Wynne, Maguire, and Barnes (1989), and many others.
- 3.
- 4.
The demographics of the client and certain facts about the case have been altered to protect the client’s identity.
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Terry, C., Bolling, M.Y., Ruiz, M.R., Brown, K. (2010). FAP and Feminist Therapies : Confronting Power and Privilege in Therapy. In: Kanter, J., Tsai, M., Kohlenberg, R. (eds) The Practice of Functional Analytic Psychotherapy. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5830-3_7
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