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Behavior Therapy

Behavior therapy focuses on changing problem behaviors through principles of classical and operant conditioning. Key figures who developed behavior therapy techniques include Arnold Lazarus, Joseph Wolpe, and Ole Ivar Lovaas. Behavior therapy uses assessment and empirically-tested procedures like relaxation training, systematic desensitization, exposure therapy, and assertion training to help clients learn adaptive behaviors. The ultimate goals are to improve clients' functioning and quality of life by reducing problem behaviors through a collaborative process between therapist and client.

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Marianne Dalmacio
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75 views4 pages

Behavior Therapy

Behavior therapy focuses on changing problem behaviors through principles of classical and operant conditioning. Key figures who developed behavior therapy techniques include Arnold Lazarus, Joseph Wolpe, and Ole Ivar Lovaas. Behavior therapy uses assessment and empirically-tested procedures like relaxation training, systematic desensitization, exposure therapy, and assertion training to help clients learn adaptive behaviors. The ultimate goals are to improve clients' functioning and quality of life by reducing problem behaviors through a collaborative process between therapist and client.

Uploaded by

Marianne Dalmacio
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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BEHAVIOR THERAPY

KEY FIGURES
- Arnold Lazarus
- Joseph Wolpe
- Ole Ivar Lovaas

A. View of Human Nature


- The person is the producer and the product of his or her environment.
- Radical behaviorists have a mechanistic view of human nature.

B. Key Concepts

1. Four Areas of Development


- Classical Conditioning
- Operant Conditioning
- Social Learning Theory
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

2. Basic Characteristics and Assumptions


- Behavior therapy is based on the principles and procedures of the scientific method.
- Behavior therapy deals with the client’s current problems and the factors influencing them
- “FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT”
- Clients are expected to be active.
- This approach assumes that change can take place without insight into underlying
dynamics.
- The focus is on assessing overt and covert behaviour directly.
- Behavioral procedures are tailor fit to the unique needs of each client.

3. The Therapeutic Goals


- Learning can ameliorate problem behaviors.
- Continual assessment
- Client’s have an active role in deciding about their treatment.

3. The Therapeutic Process


- Clients are informed about the detailed specification of goals and target behaviors, reliance
on empirically tested procedures, brief nature of the treatment and the collaborative
relationship between the client and therapist.
- The goals of therapy must be refined.

4. Therapists Function and Role


- Behaviorists also use summarizing, reflection, clarification and open-ended questioning.
- The therapists acts like a teacher and a role model of adaptive behavior.
- The therapist designs a target behavior for the client.
- Therapists also assist the client in implementing the change plan.
- Therapists also evaluate the success.

5. The Therapeutic Process


- Therapist conduct a thorough FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT (behavioural Analysis).
- ABC Model – addresses Antecedents, Behaviors and Consequences.
- ANTECEDENT EVENTS – ones that cue or elicit a certain behaviour
- CONSEQUENCES – events that maintain a certain behaviour either by increasing or
decreasing it.

6. Client’s experience in therapy


- Behavior therapy stresses the importance of client awareness and participation in the
therapeutic process.
- The client engages in modelling, role playing, rehearsal and other active behaviors as part
of therapy.
- Clients are expected to do more.
- Clients must be motivated to change and must be willing to cooperate in carrying out
therapeutic activities.
- Clients are encouraged to experiment.
- Clients are help to generalize and to transfer the learning acquired within the therapeutic
situation to situations outside therapy.

7. The relationship between therapist and client


- A good therapeutic relationship increases the chances that the client will be receptive to
therapy.
- The client’s positive expectations and hope for success about the effectiveness of therapy
often contribute to successful outcomes.
- Most behaviorists believe that factors warmth, empathy, authenticity, permisiveness and
acceptance are necessary but NOT sufficient for behavior change to occur.

C. Therapeutic Techniques and Procedures


- Behavioral assessment is an essential part of behavior therapy.
- Assessment is an ongoing process in behavior therapy.
- Therapeutic procedures are specifically designed for a particular client.

1. Relaxation Training
- A technique aimed at achieving muscle and mental relaxation and is easily learned.
- After clients learn the basics of relaxation procedures, it is essential that they practice these
exercises daily to obtain maximum results.
- The most common use has been with problems related to: stress & anxiety, or other
ailments such as: asthma, headaches, hypertension, insomnia, irritable bowel syndrome
and panic disorder.

2. Operant Conditioning Technique


Few key principles:
- Positive reinforcement
- Negative reinforcement
- Extinction
- Punishment
- Positive Punishment
- Negative Punishment

3. Systematic Desensitization
- A technique or form of exposure therapy wherein clients become less sensitive or
desensitized to anxiety-provoking situations through successive imagination.
- Involves three steps: (1) relaxation training, (2) development of the anxiety hierarchy, (3)
systematic desensitization proper.
- Client is in control of the process by going at their own pace and terminating exposure
when they begin to experience more anxiety than they want to tolerate.
- The core is repeated exposure in the imagination of anxiety-evoking situation without
experiencing any negative consequences.
- Time consuming yet effective and efficient treatment of anxiety related disorders
particularly in area of specific phobia.

4. Exposure Therapies
In Vivo Desensitization
- Clients are exposed to the actual feared situation in the hierarchy in real life rather
than imagining situations.
- This is much preferred over systematic desensitization because it can foster greater
generalization and can yield better results than imaginal desensitization procedures.

Flooding
- This is either in vivo or imaginal exposure to anxiety-provoking stimuli for a
prolonged period of time.
- In vivo flooding consists of intense and prolonged exposure to the actual anxiety-
producing stimuli. Clients are prevented from engaging in their usual maladaptive
responses.
- Imaginal flooding is applied to actual traumatic events that cannot be addressed by
the in vivo counterpart due to ethical and practical reasons.

5. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)


- A technique developed by Francine Shapiro which involves integrating a wide range of
procedural elements along with the use of rhythmic eye movements and other bilateral
stimulation to treat traumatic stress and memories of clients.
- A form of exposure therapy used to treat a variety of population including victims of crime,
sexual abuse victims, combat veterans and people dealing with phobias, addiction, panic,
depression and anxiety.

6. Assertion Training
- A form of social skills training with the goal of increasing people’s behavioral repertoire so
that they can make choices of whether to behave assertively in certain situations.
- This is suitable for people:
- who cannot express anger or irritation
- who have difficulty saying no
- who are overly polite and allow others to take advantage of them
- who find it difficult to express affection and other positive responses
- who feel they do not have the right to express their thoughts, beliefs and feelings.

7. Self-Modification Program and Self-Directed Behavior


- A growing trend in the cognitive-behavioral approach in which psychotherapists share
their knowledge so that consumers can increasingly lead self-directed lives and not to be
dependent on experts to deal with their problems.
- People frequently discover that a major reason that they do not attain their goals is the lack
of certain skills.
- In self-management programs, people make decisions concerning specific behaviors they
want to control or change.

8. Multimodal Therapy
- A comprehensive, systematic, holistic approach to behavior therapy developed by Arnold
Lazarus.
- Therapist tend to be very active during the session ; they function directively by providing
information, instruction and reactions.
- The complex personality of human beings can be divided into seven major areas of
functioning:
- B = behaviour
- A = affective responses
- S = sensations
- I = imagery
- C = cognitions
- I = interpersonal relationships
- D = drugs, biological functions, nutrition and exercise
D. Limitations and Criticisms of Behavior Therapy
- Behaviorists focus more on the presenting issue instead of listening to the client’s deeper
message.
- Many psychologists criticize behavior therapy as only having the ability to change
behaviors but not feelings. Clients are not encouraged to experience their emotions.
- Behavior therapists do not primarily place essential weight on the relationship variable of
the therapeutic process. But this does not mean that the approach is condemned to a
mechanical and non-humanistic level of functioning.
- Behavior therapy does not focus on the inculcation of insights. They believe that behavioral
change often leads to a change in understanding.
- Behavior therapy treats symptoms rather than the causes of the maladaptive patterns of
behavior.
- Many people believe that behavior therapy involves control and manipulation by the
therapist. It is thought that many behavior therapists engage in undesirable or unethical
practices.

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