Abstract
This manuscript is part of a special issue to commemorate professor Paul Eelen, who passed away on August 21, 2016. Paul was a clinically oriented scientist, for whom learning principles (Pavlovian or operant) were more than salivary responses and lever presses. His expertise in learning psychology and his enthusiasm to translate this knowledge to clinical practice inspired many inside and outside academia. Several of his original writings were in the Dutch language. Instead of editing a special issue with contributions of colleagues and friends, we decided to translate a selection of his manuscripts to English to allow wide access to his original insights and opinions. Even though the manuscripts were written more than two decades ago, their content is surprisingly contemporary. This manuscript was originally published in 1992 and discusses functional analysis as the Achilles heel of cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT). Functional analysis is that part of CBT where insight in learning principles feeds into clinical case conceptualisation. Even though functional analysis was self-evident for first generation behaviour therapists, its importance has been overlooked since long. It is striking to see how modern CBT-approaches again incorporate functional assessment.First published as: Eelen, P., & Van den Bergh, O. (1992). De gebroken achillespees van de gedragstherapie: enkele bedenkingen bij de functieanalyse. Psychotherapeutisch Paspoort, 2, 25–34.1
Highlights
Every behavior therapy training devotes an exceptional amount of attention to the process of learning to set up an adequate function analysis (FA) of the client’s behavior
Due to the influence of Brinkman’s chapter (1978) in Handboek voor Gedragstherapie, in which this FA was a central element of the behavior-therapeutic process, this part has continued to have an important place in the training and supervision of behavior therapists, in our (i.e. Dutch) language area
Eelen and Van den Bergh: The Broken Achilles Heel of Behavior Therapy always have the same understanding of FA, its necessity was never doubted and it was unanimously described as the core element of behavior therapy
Summary
Every behavior therapy training devotes an exceptional amount of attention to the process of learning to set up an adequate function analysis (FA) of the client’s (problem) behavior. This important instrument for outcome research included more behaviour criteria for the classification of syndromes than previous editions, it offered more a topographic than a functional description of problem behavior. No matter how important a topographic description may be (and with its development of careful observation techniques, behavior therapy certainly did not come up short in this regard), its exclusive use offers only illusory uniformity when not complemented with a functional description.
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