Behavioral Family Therapy

The intent of behavioral family therapy is to teach family members how to negotiate mutually acceptable solutions to their problems while simultaneously creating and maintaining positive relationship changes. This model of therapy is primarily concerned with adapting or changing problematic and maladaptive behavior. The roots of this approach are grounded in operant conditioning, which focuses on stimuli that increase behaviors and stimuli that decrease or extinguish behaviors. Positive reinforcement works by presenting motivating stimuli after a behavior in order to increase it; negative reinforcement works by removing aversive stimuli after a behavior in order to increase it; and punishment involves noxious or aversive stimuli after a behavior that results in a decrease of that behavior. Overall, the focus on observable, changeable behaviors and goals, rather ...