Abstract

The role of intimacy in the therapeutic relationship: a theoretical revision in the light of clinical behavior analysis. Psicol. teor. prat. [online]. 2005, vol.7, n.1, pp. 127-136. ISSN 1516-3687.

The present article, based on Clinical Behavior Analysis, reflects on how the establishment of a non-punitive audience by the therapist can promote the occurrence of intimate episodes in the therapeutic relationship. Intimate episodes involve interpersonal vulnerability, which means that a person opens her or himself up to possible criticism or rejection. We argue that the therapeutic environment facilitates intimate episodes that can culminate in a curative relation that can promote important transformations in the clients’ repertoires. With the help of examples from vignettes, the article proposes an understanding of intimacy as a process of dynamic interaction, the study of which, from a radical behaviorist point of view, contributes to the comprehension of therapeutic changes that can occur through psychological talk-therapy.

Keywords : Behavior therapy; Epistemology; Functional analysis; Clinical behavior analysis; Client-therapist relationship.

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