Behaviour Therapy

Behaviour therapy, or behavioural psychotherapy, is a broad term for clinical psychotherapy using techniques derived from behaviourism and cognitive psychology. It examines specific, learned behaviours and how the environment or other people's mental states influence them, applying techniques based on behaviourism's theory of learning, respondent or operant conditioning; practitioners are either behaviour analysts or cognitive-behavioural therapists, and they tend to look for objectively measurable treatment outcomes. It does not involve one specific method but a wide range of techniques, and is sometimes juxtaposed with cognitive psychotherapy, though cognitive behavioural therapy integrates aspects of both, such as cognitive restructuring, positive reinforcement, habituation and counterconditioning. Applied behaviour analysis (ABA) applies behaviour analysis to functionally assess how behaviour is influenced by the observable learning environment and to change it through contingency management or exposure therapies. A 2013 Cochrane review comparing behaviour therapies to psychological therapies found them equally effective, though the evidence base evaluating their benefits and harms was weak at the time.