A brief overview of Behavioural therapy
1. Introduction
Behavioural therapy focussed on directly observable behaviour – to identify the problem and direct assessment, current determinants of behaviour – to identify factors that exert influence on current functioning and learning experiences that promote change (Kazdin, 2001). The treatment strategies are specifically planned around the client after careful assessment and evaluation of the clients behaviour to develop adaptive, prosocial behaviour and the reduction of maladaptive behaviour in everyday life.
Behavioural therapy originated in 1950’s and early 1960’s in the US, SA and GB and was a radical departure from the dominant psychoanalytic perspective combining classical …show more content…
The Social learning approach was developed by Albert Bandura and Richard Walters (1963). It integrates events in the environment and cognitive processes (thoughts, beliefs, perceptions, expectations, interpretations), and use both to explain the development of behaviour and the interventions to change the behaviour. The word “social” underscores the fact that multiple influences on behaviour occur in the context of social development and interaction (Kazdin. 2001). Wilson (cited in Corey, 2013) proposes that environmental events on behaviour are mainly determined by cognitive processes, it determines how the environmental influences will be perceived and interpreted by the individual. Self-efficacy is the individuals belief or expectation that he/she can master a situation and bring about the desired …show more content…
“There has been no approach to emerge from psychology, psychiatry, or other disciplines that has such strong evidence in its behalf as a basis for achieving behavioural change and across such a wide range of population settings, and domains of functioning.” (p. 446).
7. References
Baron, R.A., Branscombe, N.R. & Byrne, D. (2009). Social Psychology. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.
Corey, G. (2013). Theory and practice of counselling and psychotherapy. Canada: Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning.
Kazdin, A.E. (2001). Behaviour modification in applied settings. USA: Wadsworth, Thomson Learning.
Miltenberger, R.G. (2012). Behavioural modification, principles and procedures. USA: Wadsworth, Cengage