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Behavioural Rehearsal

This document discusses behavior rehearsal as a technique in behavior therapy. It involves enacting real-life situations in therapy sessions and practicing new behaviors and response patterns through roleplaying with feedback. The document outlines how to prepare clients, select target behaviors to practice, conduct behavior rehearsal sessions, have clients practice in real life, and apply it to issues like assertion training and social skills training.

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Tulika Sarkar
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83 views

Behavioural Rehearsal

This document discusses behavior rehearsal as a technique in behavior therapy. It involves enacting real-life situations in therapy sessions and practicing new behaviors and response patterns through roleplaying with feedback. The document outlines how to prepare clients, select target behaviors to practice, conduct behavior rehearsal sessions, have clients practice in real life, and apply it to issues like assertion training and social skills training.

Uploaded by

Tulika Sarkar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Behavior Rehearsal (Behavior Therapy)

1. Overview:
-Similar to the role-playing in a psycho-dramatic school of group therapy.

-The behavior rehearsal is different from psychodrama.

-It is not about (a) uncovering the patient’s blocked affect/unresolved conflicts and tracing
current problems back to their historical origins, (b) providing the patient with insight into the
developmental origin of his problems, and (c) achieving catharsis, but (a) enactment of real-life
situations in sessions and in vivo, (b) helping the patient learn new ways of responding to
specific life situations and (c) teaching new behavior response patterns (i.e., interpersonal skills,
assertive behavior) through giving reinforcements (i.e., praise), punishment (i.e., critics),
suggestions, and feedback.

2. Implementation of Behavior Rehearsal


(1) Preparation of the patient
-Help the client recognize the need for learning a new behavior pattern (i.e., behavior
interpretations of the client’s difficulties/problems).

-Convince the client that behavior rehearsal proper would be effective and help overcome
difficulties/problems (i.e., social skills).

-Convince your client that it is O.K. to feel shy, artificiality, or uneasiness while learning new
behavior through role-playing.

(Ex) Problems (i.e., “I let people step all over me”)  Behavior interpretation (i.e., “a gap
between the way you react and the way you want to react?”)  How? (i.e., “Before you try to
carry out more assertive behavior in real situations, you may want to review some of these
situations and your reactions to them here.” “It is safe to practice here.”)

-Explain behavior rehearsal proper.

(2) Selection of target behavior


-Similar to the hierarchical list of anxiety-provoking situations created during the systematic
desensitization technique, the therapist asks, explores, and discusses with the client and mutually
construct a good, specific, concrete, and representative sample of situations where the client is
likely to manifest behavioral deficits (i.e., can’t speack up for my opinion).

-Rank order the items in terms of complexity of the behavioral skills required.
(Ex) interpersonal skills for a socially deficient male client (i.e., “taking to a man standing by a
phone booth” vs. “talking to a woman standing alone at a party”).

(3) Behavior rehearsal proper


-It is a gradual shaping process. That is, learning a number of component skills of a complex
social interactions. Not all of them at once, but step by step and sequentially.
-The therapist is responsible for setting the stage for realism (i.e., vivid description of such
situations).

-Start the bottom of the hierarchy constructed in advance, each situation is role-played.

-Therapist gives feedback or comments on the client’s role-playing. Self-monitoring is more


therapeutic.

-If inadequate or ineffective, the therapist provides “modeling” (i.e., reverse roles or getting
assistant/aide), “coaching” (i.e., tech the client what and how to say when and where), or letting
the client “listen” to one’s own role-playing that was tape-recorded.

-And then discuss what/how the client role-played in terms of (a) how others did or would
differently act and (b) how you would differently role-play (i.e., alternative ways of acting).

(4) Carrying out the newly learned role behaviors in real-life situations.
-When the client mastered a given pattern of social behavior, the client will practice that pattern
in the real life situation (i.e., give homework).

-The client will write journal on what he did in which situations (i.e., progress).

-Will discuss the consequences of his newly behaviors.

3. Other procedures
(1). Fixed role therapy (Kelly, 1955): Simply “trying out” certain behavior patterns/scenarios
(i.e., behavioral sketches) that are predetermined by both therapist and clientThe client will be
asked to assume the role for several weeks.

(2). Exaggerated role-taking (Lazarus, 1977): Ask the client to think of an individual who has
characteristics the client lacks and then practice the behavior in sessions and in vivo.

4. Applications.
(1). Assertion training:
-Identify problems (i.e., not standing up for their rights and subsequent regrets about not having
done so) and practice them.

-Make clear the difference between assertiveness and aggressiveness.

(2). Social skill training:


-Discuss what is appropriate and what is not appropriate in given social situations, and then
practice them in sessions and in vivo.
-Appropriate for group therapy sessions (i.e., group members’ progress serves a modeling
function, group pressure to try out new responses, and social interaction is realistically
simulated).

(3) Other application: job interview, police training, pilot training, etc.

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