| Abstract: | This article describes the use of the Structural Analysis of Social Behavior (SASB; L. Benjamin, 1974) as applied to programmatic psychodynamic-interpersonal psychotherapy research. SASB fosters cumulative, theory-driven research by permitting problem-treatment-outcome (PTO) congruence—the conceptualization and measurement of patients' problems, treatment processes, and outcome in a common metric. In this explication of the principle of PTO congruence, the following are discussed: a general model of interpersonal psychopathology and etiology, SASB-based assessment devices for measuring early history and formulating presenting problems, empirical studies of interpersonal process in therapy, the relationship between manual-guided training and interpersonal process, and the assessment of outcome. A generic interpersonal model of psychotherapy is proposed that theoretically links all of these elements. Finally, the use of these SASB-based models for cross-theory integrative research from a common-factors approach is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
