Behavior Therapy

A set of clinical procedures relying on experimental findings of psychological research

Based on principles of learning that are systematically applied

Treatment goals are specific and measurable

Focusing on the client’s current problems

To help people change maladaptive to adaptive behaviors

The therapy is largely educational - teaching clients skills of

self-management

Exposure Therapies

In Vivo Desensitization

Brief and graduated exposure to an actual fear situation or event

Flooding

Prolonged & intensive in vivo or imaginal exposure to highly anxiety-evoking
stimuli without the opportunity to avoid them

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

An exposure-based therapy that involves imaginal flooding, cognitive
restructuring, and the use of rhythmic eye movements and other bilateral
stimulation to treat traumatic stress disorders and fearful memories of clients

Four Aspects of Behavior Therapy

1. Classical Conditioning

In classical conditioning certain respondent behaviors, such as knee jerks and salivation, are elicited from a passive organism

2. Operant Conditioning

Focuses on actions that operate on the environment to produce consequences

If the environmental change brought about by the behavior is reinforcing, the chances are strengthened that the behavior will occur again. If the

environmental changes produce no reinforcement, the chances are lessened

that the behavior will recur

Four Aspects of Behavior Therapy

3. Social Learning Approach

Gives prominence to the reciprocal interactions between an individual’s behavior and the environment

4. Cognitive Behavior Therapy

Emphasizes cognitive processes and private events (such as client’s self-talk) as mediators of behavior change

Therapeutic Techniques

Relaxation Training ~ to cope with stress

Systematic Desensitization ~ for anxiety and avoidance reactions

Modeling ~ observational learning

Assertion Training ~ social-skills training

Self-Management Programs ~ "giving psychology away"

Multimodal Therapy ~ a technical eclecticism