Behavioral Therapy

Modified: 2020-10-05

Behavioral therapy derives from learning theory. Behavioral therapy attacks symptoms not underlying causes, overtly directs clients to change their behavior, and relies on the science of psychology more so than other therapies. Behavioral therapy also strives for therapeutic effect over relatively brief periods.

Counterconditioning is the replacement of one response to a stimulus by another. The substituted response is in the opposite affective direction to the original. In aversion therapy, a client learns to associate negative consequences with a stimulus that was associated with positive consequences before.

In systematic desensitization, a client's anxiety to a stimulus is replaced by relaxation. Teaching the client to relax is part of the therapy. In addition, the replacement is usually done in a graded fashion, making it easier for the new response to be substituted.

Specific behavioral therapies have been created from the phenomena of classical and operant conditioning. Counterconditioniong, aversive therapy, extinction, flooding, and implosive therapy all derive from classical conditioning. While the token economy and behavioral contracting come from operant conditioning. Finally, some behavioral therapy comes from Bandura's modeling techniques and may account for the success of self-help groups.

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