Behavior Therapies
A treatment approach employing the principles of operant conditioning, classical conditioning, and/or observational learning theory to eliminate inappropriate or maladaptive behaviors and replace them with more adaptive responses.
Behavior Modification
The systematic application of learning principles to help a person eliminate undesirable behaviors and/or acquire more adaptive behaviors; also called behavior therapy.
Techniques Based on Operant Conditioning on behavior modification
- Extinction: Accomplished by terminating, or withholding, the reinforcement that is maintaining that behavior.
- Token Economies: Reinforces desirable behaviors with tokens that can be exchanged later for desired objects, activities, and/or privileges.
- Time Out: Decreases the frequency of undesirable behavior by withdrawing an individual from all reinforcement for a period of time.
- Monetary Reinforcement: Found to be as effective as nicotine patches for the reduction of smoking among them.
Techniques Based on Classical Conditioning
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Flooding: A behavioral therapy used to treat phobias, during which clients are exposed to the feared object or event for an extended period until their anxiety decreases.
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Flooding sessions typically last from 30 minutes to 2 hours and should not be terminated until patients are markedly less afraid than they were at the beginning of the session
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In vivo flooding, the real-life experience, works faster and is more effective tan simply imagining the feared object
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Systematic Desensitization: Teaching how to reduce or control the fear elicited by specific stimuli. The therapist may ask the agoraphobic patient to imagine visiting the shopping mall where the patient typically develops panic, encouraging the use of relaxation techniques to diminish panic and place it under voluntary control.
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Exposure and Response Prevention: Exposes patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder to stimuli generating increasing anxiety; patients must agree not to carry out their normal rituals for a specified period of time after exposure.
- Patients treated with exposure are less likely to relapse after treatment than those treated with drugs alone
- Exposure and resistance therapy has proved useful in the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder
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Aversion Therapy: Pairs an aversive stimulus with an undesirable behavior until the behavior becomes associated with pain and discomfort. Alcoholics are sometimes given a nausea-producing substance such as Antibes, which reacts violently with alcohol and causes a person to retch and vomit until the stomach is empty
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Participant Modeling: An appropriate response is modeled in graduated steps, and the client attempts each step, encouraged and supported by the therapist.
- In this therapy, not only does the model demonstrate the appropriate response in graduated steps, but the client attempts to imitate the model step by step, while the therapist gives encouragement and support