A Logical Framework for Functional Analytic Group Therapy

•A model of the interpersonal mechanisms that make a group therapeutic is proposed.•The mechanisms rely on recognizable client-group-therapist transactions.•Functional analysis allows for logical sequences.•Identifying the logical sequences helps decide how to improve a group's efficacy.•Logical sequences are helpful in therapist training, supervision, and research.

Functional analytic group therapy (FAGT) is based on the idea that, in effective group therapy, the problems clients seek treatment for actually happen in the interaction with other group members, which allows the therapist to assess the problems and do therapeutic work on them in vivo. This paper proposes a logical framework that describes interpersonal sequences in which functional analytic principles help harness natural exchanges among group members for effective therapy. The sequences typically start when group interaction poses difficulties to which the client responds with clinically relevant behavior, either his or her usual problem behavior or improved target behavior. Effective exchanges in the group naturally weaken the problem behavior and reinforce target behavior. The group is an ineffective agent when it reinforces problem behavior or weakens target behavior. The FAGT therapist continuously assesses and, when needed, improves group interaction patterns by weakening ineffective group patterns and shaping effective exchanges in the group. The article provides examples of these logical sequences and offers recommendations about making groups more therapeutically effective.