behavior therapy

behavior therapy

n.

A form of psychotherapy that uses basic learning techniques to modify maladaptive behavior patterns by substituting new responses to given stimuli for undesirable ones. Also called behavioral therapy, behavior modification.

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behavior therapist n.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

behavior therapy - psychotherapy that seeks to extinguish or inhibit abnormal or maladaptive behavior by reinforcing desired behavior and extinguishing undesired behavior behavior modification psychotherapy - the treatment of mental or emotional problems by psychological means assertiveness training - a method of psychotherapy that reinforces you for stating negative and positive feelings directly aversion therapy - any technique of behavior modification that uses unpleasant stimuli in a controlled fashion to alter behavior in a therapeutic way; primarily used for alcoholism or drug abuse (but with little success) desensitisation procedure, desensitisation technique, desensitization procedure, desensitization technique, systematic desensitisation, systematic desensitization - a technique used in behavior therapy to treat phobias and other behavior problems involving anxiety; client is exposed to the threatening situation under relaxed conditions until the anxiety reaction is extinguished flooding, implosion therapy - a technique used in behavior therapy; client is flooded with experiences of a particular kind until becoming either averse to them or numbed to them reciprocal inhibition, reciprocal-inhibition therapy - a method of behavior therapy based on the inhibition of one response by the occurrence of another response that is mutually incompatible with it; a relaxation response might be conditioned to a stimulus that previously evoked anxiety token economy - a form of behavior therapy that has been used in some mental institutions; patients are rewarded with tokens for appropriate behavior and the tokens may be cashed in for valued rewards