Behaviour Therapy is a technique used by psychotherapists all over the world and was developed in the 1950s by B.F. Skinner and Joseph Wolpe. The basic idea behind the therapy is that it looks at a patient’s behaviour that is damaging and replaces it with a more appropriate behaviour.

The idea is that all of our behaviours are learned, even the bad or destructive ones and so through therapy you can teach new behaviours and responses that can be of benefit to a patient. This is usually a short term therapy lasting for no longer than 16 weeks. There are several techniques used in behaviour therapy and these include:

• Behaviour homework – this is usually done by the patient between sessions and allows them to look at their behaviour in real life situations.
• Behaviour Contracting – this is where the patient enters into a contract that they put together with the therapist. The contract will outline the behaviour they want to achieve and what they want to avoid. There are usually rewards and punishments included in the contract.
• Modelling – learning a new behaviour by observation
• Rehearsed Behaviour – using role-play to practise a desired behaviour
• Skills Training – taking an educational course to learn certain skills
• Conditioning – using rewards or punishments to reinforce good behaviour and discourage bad behaviour.
• Systematic desensitisation – a patient will be exposed to something they fear in gradual steps to help eliminate the fear.
• Progressive Relaxation

It is important to be aware that behaviour therapy or cognitive behavioural therapy (a slight variation) will be conducted differently by each psychotherapist and it is important you work with someone you feel comfortable with.

As you are aware behaviour therapy is something that deals with problems of the mind and can be particularly effective with sub-stance abuse, aggressive behaviour, anger management, eating disorders, phobias, and anxiety disorders. Cognitive behavioural therapy goes a bit further and can be effective for personality disorders, social phobia, schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), agoraphobia, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Alzheimer's disease, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).