Behavior Therapies: Overview

Behavior therapy is an umbrella term used to identify a broad array of therapeutic techniques that have in common at least a partial basis in the classical conditioning learning theory of Ivan Pavlov, the operant learning of E. L. Thorndike and B. F. Skinner, or both. While the focus on internal cognitive or emotional events may vary as a function of the specific behavioral therapy being considered, commonalities include the reliance on objective and observable data to monitor therapy fidelity and effectiveness and a conceptual reliance on changed behavior as the outcome focus of treatment. Within this framework, these approaches to therapy can range from the complete reliance of applied behavior analysis on environmental manipulation and rejection of mentalistic interpretation (which is in stark contrast ...