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FAP and Feminist Therapies : Confronting Power and Privilege in Therapy

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The Practice of Functional Analytic Psychotherapy

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. 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. 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. 3.

    Just as with feminist therapies, there is no one form of feminist theory, but there are common elements among the many feminist theories. One such shared element is the focus on socio-cultural contexts and how these contexts influence the behavior of women (cf., Campbell & Wasco, 2000; Enns, 2004).

  4. 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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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Palo Alto VA Healthcare System, Palo Alto, CA, USA

    Christeine Terry

  2. University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Madelon Y. Bolling

  3. Rollins College, Winter Park, FL, USA

    Maria R. Ruiz

  4. University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA

    Keri Brown

Authors
  1. Christeine Terry
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  2. Madelon Y. Bolling
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  3. Maria R. Ruiz
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  4. Keri Brown
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Correspondence to Christeine Terry .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Milwaukee, 53201, USA

    Jonathan W. Kanter

  2. Fairview Avenue East 3245, Seattle, 98102, USA

    Mavis Tsai

  3. Dept. Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, 98195-1525, USA

    Robert J. Kohlenberg

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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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