Behavior Therapies Module 71

Behavior Therapy Behavioristic perspective emphasizes that behavior (normal and abnormal) is learned –Not concerned about self-awareness Applies classical and operant conditioning to the elimination of unwanted behaviors –Primary concern is to eliminate the disorder’s behavior, not find the cause of the disorder Often called behavior modification

Behavior Therapies: Classical Conditioning Techniques

Bell & Pad Treatment for Bed Wetting Conditioning arousal from sleep in response to bodily signals of a full bladder. Pair an alarm (US) that will awaken child (UR). When moisture hits pad (bladder tension = NS) the Alarm sounds (US) waking the child (UR). Eventually bladder tension (CR) causes the child to awaken (CR). It is effective in about 75 percent of school-age children who have difficulties with bedwetting.

Mary Cover Jones: Counterconditioning Demonstrated that conditioning could be used to remove fears. Treated three-year-old Peter’s fear of rabbits, using counterconditioning Involves modifying behavior by conditioning a new response that is incompatible with a previously learned response Jones also used social imitation, or observational learning, techniques

Exposure Therapies Gradually expose patients to things they fear & avoid. Through repeated exposures, anxiety lessens because they habituate to the things feared. See an example of how this done HERE HERE

Systematic Desensitization Developed by Joseph Wolpe Based on counter conditioning Usually used to treat phobias Phobic responses are reduced by pairing relaxation with a series of mental images or real-life situations that the person finds progressively more fear-provoking Uses three steps: –Progressive relaxation – using breathing techniques to relax one muscle group after another until totally relaxed –Development of anxiety hierarchy and controlled scene –Combination of progressive relaxation with anxiety hierarchy

Systematic Desensitization Process 1.Establish a hierarchy of the anxiety- triggering stimuli 2.Learning relaxation methods (progressive relaxation) 3.Slowly think through the hierarchy from least anxiety- provoking to most anxiety-provoking, working to relax whenever anxiety is felt –Once you can maintain complete relaxation, you move on to the next scene, and so on

Sample Anxiety Hierarchy for going to the Dentist

Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy Just as effective as graduated exposure to the actual feared objects or situations Watch “Arachnophobia” (9:31)Arachnophobia Segment #31 from Scientific American Frontiers DVD

Aversive Conditioning A type of counterconditioning that associates an unpleasant state (such as nausea) with an unwanted behavior The person is replacing a positive (relaxing) but harmful response with a negative/aversive response Example with alcoholism: Lace a drink with a drug that makes the person becomes sick Aversive conditioning is not very effective – Cognition interferes – people know they won’t get sick when not taking the treatment so it doesn’t generalize over to normal life

Examples of Aversion Therapy Is it OK to use Electric shocks to stop self- harming behaviors in people with severe autism? (3 min)Electric shocks to stop self- harming behaviors

Behavior Therapies: Operant Conditioning Techniques

Operant Conditioning Behavior Modification – reinforce desired behaviors, ignore undesirable behaviors Based on B. F. Skinner’s operant conditioning model of learning –Shaping involves reinforcing successive approximations (step by step process) of a desired behavior –Positive reinforcement is used to increase the incidence of desired behaviors –Extinction, or nonreinforcement, is used to reduce the occurrence of undesired behaviors

Token Economy Attempts to modify behavior by giving tokens (rewards) for desired behavior. Use for behavior modification in group settings (prisons, classrooms, hospitals) The tokens can be exchanged for various privileges or treats –Form of secondary reinforcement Proven to be especially effective in the outpatient treatment of substance abuse and dependence and with severely disturbed or disabled people