Behavior Therapy

Behavior therapy is a type of psychotherapy that focuses on changing undesirable behaviors. Behavior therapy involves identifying objectionable, maladaptive behaviors and replacing them with healthier types of behavior. This type of therapy is also referred to a behavior modification therapy. Behavior therapy is an approach to psychotherapy based on learning theory which aims to treat psychopathology through techniques designed to reinforce desired and extinguish undesired behaviors.

By the 1970s, behavior therapy enjoyed widespread popularity as a treatment approach. Over the past two decades, the attention of behavioral therapists has focused increasingly on their clients' cognitive processes, and many therapists have begun to use cognitive behavior therapy to change clients' unhealthy behavior by replacing negative or self-defeating thought patterns with more positive ones.

Behavioral therapy can be a useful treatment tool in an array of mental illnesses and symptoms of mental illness that involve maladaptive behavior, such as sub-stance abuse, aggressive behavior, anger management, eating disorders, phobias, and anxiety disorders. It is also used to treat organic disorders such as incontinence and insomnia by changing the behaviors that might be contributing to these disorders. Behavioral therapy techniques are sometimes combined with other psychological interventions such as medication. Treatment depends on the individual patient and the severity of symptoms surrounding the behavioral problem.

Behavioral therapy, or behavior modification, is based on the assumption that emotional problems, like any behavior, are learned responses to the environment and can be unlearned. Unlike psychodynamic therapies, it does not focus on uncovering or understanding the un-conscious motivations that may be behind the maladaptive behavior. In other words, behavioral therapists don't try to find out why their patients behave the way they do, they just teach them to change the behavior.

There are a number of different techniques used in behavioral therapy to help patients change their behaviors. These include:

1. Behavioral homework assignments - The therapist often requests that the patient complete homework assignments between therapy sessions. These may consist of real-life behavioral experiments where patients are encouraged to try new responses to situations discussed in therapy sessions.

2. Contingency contracting - In conjunction with the patient, the therapist outlines a written or verbal contract of desired behaviors for the patient.

3. Modeling - This is where the patient learns a new behavior through observation.

4. Rehearsed behavior - The therapist and patient engage in role-playing exercises in which the therapist acts out appropriate behaviors or responses to situations.

5. Skills training techniques - The patient undergoes an education program to learn social, parenting, or other relevant life skills.

6. Conditioning - The therapist uses reinforcement to encourage a particular behavior. The gold star reinforces and increases the desired behavior by identifying it with something positive. Reinforcement can also be used to extinguish unwanted behaviors by imposing negative consequences.

7. Systematic desensitization - Patients are gradually exposed to a situation they fear, either in a role-playing situation or in reality. The therapist will employ relaxation techniques to help them cope with their fear reaction and eventually eliminate the anxiety altogether.

8. Flooding - Flooding is an accelerated version of systematic desensitization, in which the patient is exposed directly to the anxiety-provoking situation that he fears most in an effort to extinguish the fear response.

9. Progressive relaxation - As the name implies, progressive relaxation involves complete relaxation of the muscle groups of the body and calm and even breathing until the body is completely tension free. It is used by behavioral therapists both as a relaxation exercise to relieve anxiety and stress, and as a method of preparing the patient for systematic desensitization. Progressive relaxation is performed by first tensing and then relaxing the muscles of the body, one group at a time.

Behavior therapy is a scientific method that teaches people to observe overt behavior for tell-tale signs of stress or disturbance, without talking about internal mental conditions. A psychological technique behavior therapy is based on the assumption that specific, apparent, maladaptive, poorly adjusted, or even self-destructing behaviors can be altered by learning new behaviors to reinstate them.