1. Assumptions:

a) behavior is the product of learning (past conditioning). If a person is engaging in some maladaptive behavior (like smoking) then they had to learn that behavior somewhere along the way.

b) what has been learned can be unlearned. If a person learned to smoke all the time, they can unlearn to smoke all the time.

2. Systematic Desensitization (founded by Wolpe):

The premise of systematic desensitization is to reduce the client's anxiety responses through counterconditioning; a person who learned to be afraid of something is associating fear with that object or behavior, and the way to eliminate this is to teach the person to associate feelings of relaxation with the object or behavior. This approach is based on conditioning relaxation with feared object, object of anxiety. Let's look at an example:

a) the fear - fear of dating women

b) the client is asked to create a hierarchy of anxiety (what makes the client afraid, from least fear producing to most fear producing).

1) sitting next to a woman in class (least)

2) talking to a woman in class

3) walking with a woman on campus

4) calling a woman on the phone

5) eating a meal with a woman

6) going out on a date with a woman (most)

c) the therapist then teaches the client some relaxation technique and then has the client use the relaxation technique when encountering (or just thinking about) the first level (sitting next to a woman in class). Once the client is comfortable with this, they move on to the next level, and so on until the client becomes relaxed and is able to go out on a date with a woman.

3. Aversion Therapy: this therapeutic technique involves having the client associate an aversive stimulus with a stimulus that elicits an undesirable response or action. For example, let's say a person smokes but wants to stop. (smoking is the undesirable response) The therapist may have the client go through their normal smoking routine (getting the pack of cigarettes, getting one out, tapping it on a table, etc...) and then presenting an aversive stimulus along with the smoking (e.g., presenting a vomit smell as the client goes through the routing). In this way, the client begins to associate this horrible smell of vomit with smoking until the very thought of lighting a cigarette becomes aversive. If you have ever seen the movie "A Clockwork Orange" this may sound familiar.

C. Cognitive (behavior) Therapy - many books say this is an insight therapy, but we will give it it's own classification since it employs both cognitive (insight) and behavioral aspects.

e.g., Rational Emotive Therapy attempts to rid individuals of irrational beliefs.

1. most problems caused by irrational thoughts that lead to emotional turmoil. For example:

#1: You must have sincere love and approval almost all the time from all the people you find significant.

#2: You must prove yourself thoroughly competent, adequate, and achieving, or you must at least have real competence or talent at something important.

#3: You have to view life as awful, terrible, horrible, or catastrophic when things do not go the way you would like them to go.

2. solutions focus on changing cognitions

the client must learn to monitor the way they talk to themselves, their thoughts, and to develop self-control

must learn to replace irrational beliefs with ones that are more rational

must learn to avoid "errors" in thinking, such as blaming self for failure, focusing on negative not positive, pessimism

must identify positive goals, and means to achieve them