Behavior Behavioral Therapy Therapy or Behavior Modification (both terms will be used as synonyms) emerged around the middle of the 20th century as a revolutionary alternative in the field of “Mental Health. “It appears as a revolution against explanatory models and intervention procedures in its first moments. It is also presented as a scientific movement with more effective responses to existing social demands in this regard. Since its inception, it has been configured as an innovative, valid, and effective alternative. Not only to explain the problems raised but also to provide more effective solutions to these problems.
Abnormality And Adaptation
The prevailing psychopathological and therapeutic conceptions at that time tried to explain abnormal behaviors, citing supposed internal aspects of people as causes, biological or psychological, according to the schools.
Behavior Therapy is a radical change. In the first place, it abandons the concept of “mental health” (residue of Cartesian dualism) for that of “abnormal behavior.” It understands the abnormal based on its adaptation to the environment. People are not considered to be “abnormal” (or lacking in mental health) but to perform one or more abnormal behaviors (in that sense, non-adaptive). The objective, consequently, will focus on promoting the change of possible maladaptive behaviors, either by reducing or eliminating them or by developing other alternatives. This change is achieved through psychological intervention techniques. Taking into account the characteristics of the environment in which people must carry out these behaviors since the final objective will be for the person to learn to adapt to the environment, physical,
In other texts, Behavior Therapy’s emergence, development, and consolidation have been addressed in detail and depth (Kazdin, 1978, 1982; Labrador, 1986, 1990; Cruzado, Labrador, and Munoz, 1993). In this text, we will try to point out the essential characteristics of Behavior Therapy. Intervention techniques and application areas are presented, and finally, recent developments and some of the current challenges of Behavior Therapy will be noted.
The Radical Change Proposed By Behavior Therapy
The behaviors of people, the same as those of any other organism, are carried out following specific laws or rules, not by chance. These laws are determined by the adaptation of organisms to the environment. Thus, there can be no “qualitative” differences between behaviors; they are all governed by environmental adaptation, and the organism that does not carry out behaviors that adapt to the environment will not survive.
But, although the exact laws govern all behaviors, the conditions of the subject that emits them or the environment in which they are cast (physical or social) make certain behaviors less adaptive than others. However, they still need to escape the general laws that determine conduct. Consequently, all behaviors are learned, maintained, and modified according to the same principles or general rules. This implies that any diagnostic categorization (e.g., schizophrenia, autism, etc.) is incorrect since it assumes “qualitative” and not “quantitative” differences in people’s behaviors.
This conception supposes a radical change concerning the alternative models of abnormal behavior. There is no talk of “mentally ill” but of a “normal subject” (as long as he follows the same rules to issue his behaviors). This subject presents one or several “maladaptive behaviors” (including the term behavior in a non-restrictive sense. Where thoughts, emotions, cognitive responses in general, etc. can be placed). Consequently, the intervention must be aimed at modifying these maladaptive behaviors of people.