Verified Document

Behavior Therapy Term Paper

¶ … Evolution and Development of Behavioral Therapy The 20th century approach to psychology is notable because, while there was an emphasis on the medical approach to treating psychological disorders, there was also a focus on nonphysiological therapies that began to gain some credence in the medical profession. While nonmedical interventions were generally dismissed, "at least some nonmedical practices were no longer widely regarded by either professionals or the general public as quackery. An important contributor to the increased acceptance and status of nonmedical therapies was their enhanced relationship with science" (O'Donohue & Krasner, Year). These nonmedical therapies gained greater and greater usage in the mental health arena, and eventually came to be regarded not only as complementary treatments to standard medical interventions, but as "necessary components in the treatment of problems such as depression, attention deficit disorder, schizophrenia, and many of the anxiety disorders"(O'Donohue & Krasner, Year). One of the areas of psychology that received considerable early attention was behaviorism.

It is important to understand that behaviorism did not simply develop as an adjunct of the science of psychology, but was influenced by the "philosophical, social, cultural, political, and ethical context in which it [was] embedded" (Fishman & Franks, Year). In other words, behavior therapy and behaviorism could not have developed without the prior interest in the behavioral sciences such as psychology, sociology, and anthropology, which led to an increase in interest in how humans behave and how human interactions impact one another. "Behavior is defined broadly to include both overt actions and observable manifestations of covert affective and cognitively mediated processes. These processes may occur at several levels: psychophysiological, individual, small group, organizational, and community" (Fishman & Franks, Year). Behavior therapy is therapy designed to change behavior in a constructive manner. Moreover, behavior therapy is more than a therapeutic innovation; it is considered a major conceptual advance because it approaches human psychology from a totally different perspective than prior therapeutic approaches.

Ivan Pavlov is, in many ways,...

Pavlov documented early conditioned stimuli and conditioned responses in his now infamous dog experiments. While Pavlov's early work was experimental and descriptive, his students began to dabble in how Pavlov's techniques could be used for behavior modification. In fact, "behavior therapy has benefited enormously from the methodologically sophisticated procedure for the conditioning of neurotic or anxiety reactions pioneered by Pavlov and his students" (Wolpe & Plaud, 1997). Conditioning principles not only helped develop behavior therapy, but remain relevant to modern behavior therapy. This is because Pavlov and his students discovered that conditioning methods could neutralize the impact of aversive stimuli, which is one of the primary goals in much of modern behavioral therapy; the elimination of responses to stimuli that is perceived as aversive.
One of the interesting contributions that Pavlov made to the field of behavior therapy was to observe that innate personality type could impact conditioning. He noted that some of the dogs in his experiments seemed to have naturally friendlier dispositions, while others were more aggressive, and he theorized that human beings had similar differences in innate personality (Wolpe & Plaud, 1997). This led him to the conclusion that different people have different sensitivity levels in their nervous systems; some individuals overrespond to weak stimuli, while others fails to respond to significant stimuli (Wolpe & Plaud, 1997). Moreover, the natural response to the stimuli would have an impact on conditioning (Wolpe & Plaud, 1997).

By 1913, Watson was advocating behaviorism as a branch of psychology. He wrote "Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It," which was published in the Psychological Review, and described psychology as the purely objective branch of science (Fishman & Franks, Year). He believed that the theoretical goal of behaviorism was to predict and control behavior, and that the behaviorist was not concerned with motivations and would not differentiate between man and animal (Fishman & Franks, Year). Instead, it would focus on objectively measurable criteria, so that it could be described in the same manner as other sciences. While Watson was writing about behaviorism,…

Sources used in this document:
References

Fishman, D. & Franks, C. (Year). The conceptual evolution of behavior therapy. In Book Title.

City: Publisher.

Glass, C. & Arnkoff, D. (Year). Behavior therapy. In Book Title. City: Publisher.

O'Donohue, W., & Krasner, L. (Year). Introduction. In Theories of behavior therapy:
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Behavior Therapy
Words: 2060 Length: 8 Document Type: Research Paper

Behavior Therapy is generally an approach of psychotherapy which aims to treat any sort of psychopathology to eliminate undesired behaviors in a patient or subject (Masters, et. al., 1987). This type of psychotherapy is based on the learning theory. Behavior therapy generally attempts to help in solving certain behavioral problems; this type of therapy has a long history. In the early first century in Rome, Pliny the Elder was known

Therapy Behavior Therapy Behavior Therapy May Be
Words: 1483 Length: 5 Document Type: Essay

Therapy Behavior Behavior Therapy Behavior therapy may be referred to as the approach in psychotherapy, in the behavior tradition that focuses on a set of methods designed for reinforcing desired behaviors, and eliminating undesired without concerning the psychoanalytic state of the subject. These methods mainly focus on the behavior, and not the thoughts and the feelings that could be causing them. The behavior therapy is divided into two sections, a narrowly defined

Behavior Therapy Review
Words: 718 Length: 2 Document Type: Term Paper

Behavior Therapy Over the last several years, behavioral therapy has become a discipline many mental health professionals are embracing. However, like numerous schools of thought there are disputes about its effectiveness in changing the way someone reacts to different events. To fully understand the impact requires examining the ideas of the founders, the motivational constructs, the nature of maladjustment, the goals of counseling therapy and the techniques which are utilized. Together,

Behavior Therapy Strategies and Reactivity Measures
Words: 730 Length: 2 Document Type:

feelings/Reactions Behavior Therapy Every behavior in behavior therapy makes sense and they are to be believed to result from punishment and reinforcement patterns from the surroundings. The treatment itself does not focus on the base of the problem but on the changing the present factors of that particular behavior including tantrums, biased thinking and feared situations. Behavior therapy has full support of research as there are a lot of studies

Dialectical Behavior Therapy Dbt Dialectical
Words: 2722 Length: 9 Document Type: Research Paper

For them to survive crisis they are equipped with the skills to; self-soothing, thinking of the pros and cons, improving the moment and looking for destructive things to do. They can also exhibit acceptance skills by turning the mind to accept, radical acceptance and willingness vs. willfulness. Individuals with under this therapy are taught how to regulate their emotions. This is because most of those suffering from this disorder are

Cognitive Behavior Therapy Is a Treatment Procedure
Words: 1554 Length: 6 Document Type: Essay

Cognitive Behavior Therapy is a treatment procedure that bases treatment on the cause directly. It explains that it is the thoughts of the people that cause feelings of being ill, and other behaviors. The benefit of the treatment is that it helps change the way people think and feel better even when they are truly suffering from a certain condition. The case of Jessica is not any different from those

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now