Clinical Behaviour Analysis

At its core, Clinical Behaviour Analysis (CBA) is the application of empirically established behavioural learning principles to the clinical domain, providing a framework for the systematic analysis of a person’s historical and current contexts, in terms of the personal learning that has occurred through interaction with those contexts, and using this information to understand the function and maintenance of an individual’s clinically-relevant behaviour. Unlike other established approaches to formulation and therapy, CBA is often misunderstood by individuals who are unfamiliar, or only partially familiar, with the central tenets of the approach. Common charges levied against CBA include: the apparent dismissal of thoughts, feelings and emotions as unobservable and therefore unimportant to the clinician or analyst; the use of aversive techniques and punishment to change behaviour; and the reduction of the complexity of individual experience into simplistic behavioural units. While these criticisms may be valid for some forms of mechanistic behaviourism or misinformed individual therapists, they do not apply to the radical behaviourism of B F Skinner – the behavioural philosophy that underpins our approach. Within this chapter, we formulate the case of ‘Molly’, using the principles of CBA to understand her presentation, current difficulties, and potential areas for intervention.