Investigations in the Clinical Field: Notes on Behavioral Analytic and Phenomenological Approaches

Abstract

The aim of this article is to consider possibilities of investigation in the phenomenological and behavioral analysis clinical fields. In the context of clinical research in phenomenology, the present article presents initially the historical direction of clinical investigation in research and psychotherapy. Currently, there is a concern with methodological issues, the several application possibilities, and with opening up new fields, besides the emphasis on epistemological aspects. Finally, we discuss the question of what characterizes a phenomenological investigation and what its fundamentals are. The Behavior Analysis Clinic has its tradition heavily inspired by Skinner and his relationship with Ferster, whose legacy is observed in the terminology adopted to describe the therapist/client behavioral interactions, in the observation of consequences, on the inclusion of the therapist’s behavior in examining clinical material, and in the emphasis on idiosyncrasy to provide satisfactory answers to questions in the clinical context. The main current challenge in behavior-analytic research is to establish units of analysis that can be shared by different researchers. Some points of possible similarities between these clinical approaches are discussed: the historical conditions common to both, when brought together under the generic label of “psychotherapy”; the question of the idiographic emphasis, and the search for explanations to subjectivity.

Keywords: clinical research; clinical behavior analysis; phenomenological research.