Clinical Consensus Strategies for Interpersonal Problems

State University New York Stony Brook, Stony Brook NY

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Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Successful interpersonal relationships are integral to psychological health. Relationships with parents play a particularly important role in the lives of young adults as they navigate the transition from adolescence to adulthood. The purpose of the proposed study is to increase our knowledge of effective clinical strategies for addressing young adults' interpersonal problems in their relationships with their parents by tapping into the clinical experience of practicing therapists. This study will employ the behavioral-analytic model with a sample of clinicians to accomplish the following goals: 1) to identify problems with parents that young adult clients commonly bring to individual psychotherapy; 2) to identify clinical strategies that therapists have found to be effective for treating these problems; and 3) to further develop a methodology for accessing clinical experience in a form that can be submitted to additional scientific study. The final taxonomy of prototypical interpersonal problems with parents and clinical consensus on effective intervention strategies will lead to the generation of clinically relevant hypotheses for future research, and will aid in the identification of therapists' training needs regarding the treatment of interpersonal problems.