Types of Counseling Styles Like Behavioral Modification

Behavioral modification counseling or therapy, as outlined by American behaviorist B.F. Skinner, seeks to stop a negative or unwanted behavior and replace it with a positive one. This is primarily achieved by taking away whatever reinforces the negative behavior. Behavioral modification has been used to treat many problems, including anxiety, phobias, addiction and shyness. There are several counseling styles similar to behavior modification that also can help with these issues.

Aversion Therapy

• Aversion therapy is similar to behavioral modification in as much as it aims to remove an unwanted behavior. In aversion therapy sessions, the counselor aims to make the patient associate the unwanted behavior with a negative or unpleasant sensation. A small electric shock to the arm or leg is most commonly used to create the unpleasant sensation, and it's administered when the patient performs the unwanted behavior.

Desensitization

• Desensitization is most commonly used for phobias and anxiety. It attempts to change a person's behavior by gradually getting him used to what he fears or is anxious about. For instance, if the patient was afraid of spiders, a desensitization counselor might first get him to talk about spiders or draw one, then look at a picture of spiders, gradually increasing the intensity of the exercises until the patient is able to handle spiders without fear.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

• The aim of cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, is to modify the patient's behavior by changing the way he thinks about a given situation. CBT has been used to help with stress, phobias, anxiety, depression, eating disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder to name just a few. The patient is asked to identify helpful versus unhelpful thoughts that result from a given situation. Unhelpful thoughts can lead to a negative emotional reaction and behavior. The patient is encouraged to follow the helpful thought path, which may lead to a positive reaction.

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy

• Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, or REBT, was developed by Albert Ellis. Ellis believed that most mental health issues and unwanted behaviors were caused by irrational beliefs and absolutist ideas following an event. REBT aims to remove these issues and behaviors by encouraging patients to adopt more flexible philosophies and understand that all humans are fallible. By taking this point of view, patients are able to change the irrational beliefs that cause unwanted behavior into rational beliefs.