A New Treatment for Interpersonal Problems: The Theory, Clinical Application, and Prospect of Functional Analysis Psychotherapy

Wang Lijun; Xiang Weiqin; Wan Zhendong

doi:10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20250520

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Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2025, Vol. 48 ›› Issue (5) : 1257-1266. DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20250520

A New Treatment for Interpersonal Problems: The Theory, Clinical Application, and Prospect of Functional Analysis Psychotherapy

Wang Lijun, Xiang Weiqin, Wan Zhendong

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Abstract

Humans are inherently social beings. Interpersonal communication is a fundamental human need. The quality of interpersonal relationships plays a crucial role in predicting and influencing mental health outcomes. A strong interpersonal bond not only signifies good mental well-being but also acts as a protective factor. Interpersonal relationship problem is an important manifestation of many mental disorders, making them an integral aspect of mental health problems.
The Functional Analysis Psychotherapy (FAP) is a contextual behavioral psychotherapy that focuses on interpersonal relationships. It is part of the “third-wave” cognitive-behavioral therapies that emphasize mindfulness, acceptance, emotions, relationships, values, and meta-cognition, and is designed to help clients clarify their values and encourage them to take positive and flexible actions to change their lives. Proposed by Kohlenberg and Tsai in 1991, FAP is often described as “process-based”. It emphasizes the functional equivalence between the therapeutic condition and the daily environment, as well as to value the role of reinforcement (especially natural reinforcement, that is an immediate, spontaneous reinforcement) and relationship development during and outside of treatment. The FAP approach emphasizes the significance of clients’ words and actions in therapy, enabling therapists and clients to establish a meaningful therapeutic relationship through analyzing behavior. It focuses on clinically relevant behaviors (CRBs) related to what clients say and do, including clinically relevant behaviors in daily life (CRB1s), improvements in behaviors (CRB2s), and their explanations for their behaviors and the reasons for their behaviors (CRB3s), as demonstrated by the client's during therapy. The ultimate goal is to restore the client’s social adaptive functioning. It is based on five treatment guidelines for identifying, evoking, reinforcing, explaining, and promoting clinically relevant behavior changes under the guidance of the ACL model which includes awareness, courage, and love. In fact, the ACL model describes a binary interaction process between clients and therapists to assess problems and treatment goals achievement. FAP utilizes the Functional Analytic Psychotherapy Rating Scale (FAPRS), the Functional Analytic Psychotherapy Competency Scale (FAPCS), and the Functional Analytic Psychotherapy Intimacy Scale (FAPIS) to assess the treatment effectiveness, therapist competency and gain insight into clients’ psychological characteristics and changes throughout the treatment process.
Originally used to treat individuals with interpersonal relationship disorders, FAP’s effectiveness in improving such conditions has been extensively demonstrated through group studies and case analyses. The treatment effectively reduces maladaptive behavior while promoting adaptive behavior, leading to improved interpersonal communication. Additionally, it has made significant progress in treating depression and various personality disorders like schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder. The FAP treatment framework and method can be used alone or integrated into other treatments such as the Functional Analytic Psychotherapy and Acceptance and the Commitment Therapy (FACT) to enhance therapeutic effects, and Functional Analytic Psychotherapy enhanced Behavioral Activation (FEBA), a short-term structured treatment for depression.
Actually, FAP has developed into a relatively complete treatment mode, with clinical studies demonstrating its wide-ranging value and clinical significance. However, the existing studies still suffer from issues such as defective experimental design, inadequate exploration of intrinsic mechanisms and treatment effects. Moreover, FAP, as a novel and promising therapeutic method, has not yet garnered full attention and application from domestic scholars. Follow-up studies should improve the research methods and design of FAP, explore the treatment principles of FAP and the neurological changes of patients, and promote the localization of FAP along with the application of online treatment services.
Psychological counseling and therapy is crucial to help individuals maintain their mental abilities for social adaptation, and to promote the establishment of a comprehensive social psychological service system through the development of mental health services. Therefore, by introducing FAP and exploring its feasibility for future research, we believe that domestic psychological treatment methods can be enriched, the system of psychological counseling and treatment theory can be further improved, thereby providing valuable reference and guidance for counselors and therapists.

Key words

functional analysis psychotherapy / interpersonal relationship disorder / functional equivalence / psychological therapy / “third wave” / cognitive and behavioral therapy

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Wang Lijun, Xiang Weiqin, Wan Zhendong. A New Treatment for Interpersonal Problems: The Theory, Clinical Application, and Prospect of Functional Analysis Psychotherapy[J]. Journal of Psychological Science. 2025, 48(5): 1257-1266 https://doi.org/10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20250520

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