Behavioral

Theory: Behavioral

Theorist: B. F. Skinner

Focus: Behavioral therapy focuses on how changes in thoughts and behavior can change feelings and reactions, both acutely and long term.

Strengths: Behavioral conditioning can be tailored to the client’s specific needs and issues in an effective way. Treatment can be structure to discourage and even eliminate negative and detrimental behaviors as well as general and encourage positive and constructive ones. The skills learned during treatment can also be applied later in life to other behaviors after treatment has ended.

Weaknesses: Behavioral therapy focuses only on current issues, which may stem from other more deeply-rooted issues. Behavioral therapy also requires commitment and execution of rewards and consequences from the patient on a day-to-day basis.

Techniques: Behavioral therapy is executed according to the principles of classical and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning works by creating associations between stimuli to lead to certain expectations and behaviors without thought. Operant conditioning works though employment of rewards by either the presence of positive behavior or absence of negative behavior, as well and punishments for negative behavior or absence of positive behavior.

Personal example: While living on campus at Brandeis University, I struggled with procrastination in regards to completing schoolwork such as lab reports and papers. I often found myself sitting down with the intention of doing my work, but then ending up wasting time on Facebook and watching shows online. In order to decrease this negative behavior, I decided to reward myself for good behavior (focus on and completing my work). When I would sit down to do schoolwork, I told myself that when I completed all of my assignments, I would go to the campus store and get a snack such as a coffee or frappe or donut, and then go relax and spend time at the pottery studio. I really enjoyed my time at the pottery studio and found it relaxing and therapeutic, so this enticed me to stay focused and complete my work so that I could enjoy my reward, and really cut back on the amount of procrastination I did.