Updating RFT (More Field than Frame) and its Implications for Process-based Therapy

Abstract

The current article presents a response to the recent call for a focus on psychological processes of change in psychotherapy. In addressing the need for a more process-based focus, the need for clarity in defining psychological processes per se becomes apparent, before it is possible to develop process-based therapy. In grappling with this challenge, the current article is divided into two parts. In Part I, we present a modern view of behavioral processes as they apply specifically to verbally sophisticated humans. The view we offer is based on one of the main approaches to human language and cognition within behavioral science, relational frame theory (RFT), which has been updated in recent years. In Part 2, the view of behavioral processes, as seen through the lens of an updated RFT, is used to begin to develop a process-based approach to the assessment and treatment of human psychological suffering. The article ends with two case summaries and a series of brief take-home messages that aim to capture the core elements of the RFT-driven process-based therapy we are currently developing.