Behaviour therapy

Behaviour therapy aims to correct faulty patterns of behaviour and thinking in the present. It does not dig into the past. It is a set of techniques, not a single theory, based on the idea that what is learned can be unlearned.

It starts with behavioural analysis, finding:

• malfunctioning behaviours (the problem behaviours);
• antecedent factors: what comes before and triggers them;
• maintaining factors: what keeps them going. Example: a smoker lights up when anxious, and smoking relieves the anxiety for a while, which keeps the habit going.

Therapists then change the antecedents or the consequences. Example: a child who refuses dinner is given less food at tea time (antecedent) and praised for eating at dinner (consequence).

Techniques:

• Relaxation procedures.
• Aversive conditioning: pairing an unwanted behaviour with something unpleasant (an alcohol-induced feeling of sickness).
• Positive reinforcement: rewarding the desired behaviour.
• Token economy: earning tokens for good behaviour, which can be exchanged for rewards.
• Differential reinforcement: rewarding the good behaviour and ignoring the bad, for example ignoring a child's sulking but rewarding polite asking.
• Modelling: learning by watching someone perform the desired behaviour.

Systematic desensitisation, introduced by Joseph Wolpe, treats phobias:

• The client makes an anxiety hierarchy: a list of feared situations, from least to most frightening.
• The client learns deep relaxation.
• Then, while relaxed, the client imagines each situation in turn, from the least frightening upwards.

It works by reciprocal inhibition: two opposing states (relaxation and anxiety) cannot exist together, so the stronger one (relaxation) inhibits the weaker.