Regaining control: Understanding compensation behavior and coping with variable interval partial reinforcement

Patients pursuing claims or causes within bureaucratic, administrative, or legal systems present special problems to therapists. Encounters with syste ms such as the Veterans Compensation System, Social Security, Workers Compe nsation, and the courts may cause patients to lose some control over their lives and therapists to be perplexed, uneasy, and challenged as to how to i ntervene therapeutically. This article shows how variable interval partial reinforcement can partly explain these patient problems. Veteran cases are the main examples, but nonveteran cases are discussed. Interventions that t herapists may use to help patients regain control are suggested.