[Treatment of a depressive disorder according to Functional Analytic Psychotherapy]

Treatment of a depressive disorder according to Functional Analytic Psychotherapy. This paper presents the analysis and treatment of a depressive disorder according to Functional Analytic Psychotherapy. This form of psychotherapy, which is based on the principles of radical behaviorism, makes functional use of verbal behavior, and is structured upon a therapeutic relationship that pays special attention to natural reinforcement and emphasises the events that may arise in the clinical context, and relates them to a natural context, shaping, and functional equivalence. The paper describes the case of a 40-year-old woman with major depressive disorder, and the functional conceptualization of the case according to this psychotherapy. The different phases of the treatment are described (17 sessions in total), with examples of the therapeutic relationship and of how the results were maintained in the long term. In addition to solving problems and making changes in the patient's daily life, the initial BDI-II score (29) dropped to 6 points after seven months, and remained at 8 points in the follow-up after 17 months.