Testing Functional Analytic Psychotherapy's mediational model of change in social connectedness for people with fear of intimacy
Abstract
In efforts to decrease psychological distress, psychotherapy frequently focuses on a client's intimate relationships and connectedness with others. One contextual-behavioral approach, Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP), aims to do so by employing the therapeutic relationship to shape improvements in the clients' in-session interpersonal behaviors. In a recent randomized trial of a FAP intervention for dyads who wanted to improve their relationships (Kanter et al., 2018), clients who presented with fear of intimacy were specifically taught in-session interpersonal skills to improve intimate behaviors and connectedness within dyads and reduce related fears. The current study employed a secondary analysis of those data and tested a mediational model in which decreases in fear of intimacy from pre-treatment to post-treatment for these participants would be associated with increases in social connectedness, and this association would be mediated by increases in self-reported intimacy-related behaviors. Results indicated that as fear of intimacy decreased, social connectedness increased, and this association was partially mediated by self-reported improvements in the intimacy-related behaviors targeted by the intervention. Thus, findings support a model in which fear of intimacy is associated with avoidance of intimacy-related behaviors which in turn decreases social connectedness; when these behaviors are targeted and improved, fear of intimacy may decrease and social connectedness may increase.
Publication Title
Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science
Recommended Citation
Toh, S., Kanter, J., Keenan, M., & Berlin, K. (2022). Testing Functional Analytic Psychotherapy's mediational model of change in social connectedness for people with fear of intimacy. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 24, 18-22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcbs.2022.02.002
