Using Functional Analysis in Psychotherapy

Filled with rich case examples, this book shows how psychotherapists from any orientation can use functional analysis (FA) to better understand their clients and specifically target the changes that clients seek. Extensive therapist–client dialogues illustrate ways to probe difficult emotions and explore the causes and consequences of behavior, with special attention to harnessing the power of metaphor. FA is a core component of such evidence-based treatments as dialectical behavior therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and behavioral activation, and is central to the growing movement toward process-based therapies in general. This is the English edition of Vägledning i klinisk funktionell analys, published in Swedish in 2023 and translated and revised by the author.

Niklas Törneke, MD, is a Swedish psychiatrist and licensed psychotherapist with more than 30 years of clinical experience. Dr. Törneke has extensive experience training psychotherapists worldwide, focusing on the use of basic behavioral principles. He has particular interests in acceptance and commitment therapy and relational frame theory. The author of a number of articles, book chapters, and books, Dr. Törneke is a Fellow of the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science.

Foreword, Stefan G. Hofmann
Preface
1. Historical Notes and a Few Definitions
2. Theory as a Tool
3. Building Cooperation
4. Observational Distancing
5. Finding and Naming the Problematic Strategy
6. Finding and Naming an Alternative Strategy
7. Switching between the Two Arenas
8. Experimentation
9. The Use of Metaphor
Afterword
Further Reading
Index