This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

Behavioural therapy

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

Behavioural therapy is a psychological treatment in which specific disruptive symptoms or behaviours are ameliorated by a strategy of active measures designed to modify the processes which maintain them.

It was developed in the late 1950's, initially by the application of learning theory to the treatment of a variety of neurotic symptoms. Studies of animals had revealed that various forms of behaviour could be conditioned and maintained by particular patterns of stimulus and reward, for example Pavlov's early experiments with dogs showed how dogs were conditioned to salivate in response to a bell which originally had been sounded at the same moment as the appearance of food - classical conditioning; Skinner showed that animals repeated behaviours that were rewarded in some way such as the presentation of food - operant conditioning.


Create an account to add page annotations

Annotations allow you to add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation. E.g. a website or number. This information will always show when you visit this page.

The content herein is provided for informational purposes and does not replace the need to apply professional clinical judgement when diagnosing or treating any medical condition. A licensed medical practitioner should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions.

Connect

Copyright 2024 Oxbridge Solutions Limited, a subsidiary of OmniaMed Communications Limited. All rights reserved. Any distribution or duplication of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited. Oxbridge Solutions receives funding from advertising but maintains editorial independence.