BEHAVIOR THERAPY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does behavior therapy mean? 

• BEHAVIOR THERAPY (noun)
  The noun BEHAVIOR THERAPY has 1 sense:

1. psychotherapy that seeks to extinguish or inhibit abnormal or maladaptive behavior by reinforcing desired behavior and extinguishing undesired behavior

  Familiarity information: BEHAVIOR THERAPY used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BEHAVIOR THERAPY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Psychotherapy that seeks to extinguish or inhibit abnormal or maladaptive behavior by reinforcing desired behavior and extinguishing undesired behavior

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

behavior modification; behavior therapy

Hypernyms ("behavior therapy" is a kind of...):

psychotherapy (the treatment of mental or emotional problems by psychological means)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "behavior therapy"):

assertiveness training (a method of psychotherapy that reinforces you for stating negative and positive feelings directly)

aversion therapy (any technique of behavior modification that uses unpleasant stimuli in a controlled fashion to alter behavior in a therapeutic way; primarily used for alcoholism or drug abuse (but with little success))

desensitisation procedure; desensitisation technique; desensitization procedure; desensitization technique; systematic desensitisation; systematic desensitization (a technique used in behavior therapy to treat phobias and other behavior problems involving anxiety; client is exposed to the threatening situation under relaxed conditions until the anxiety reaction is extinguished)

flooding; implosion therapy (a technique used in behavior therapy; client is flooded with experiences of a particular kind until becoming either averse to them or numbed to them)

reciprocal-inhibition therapy; reciprocal inhibition (a method of behavior therapy based on the inhibition of one response by the occurrence of another response that is mutually incompatible with it; a relaxation response might be conditioned to a stimulus that previously evoked anxiety)

token economy (a form of behavior therapy that has been used in some mental institutions; patients are rewarded with tokens for appropriate behavior and the tokens may be cashed in for valued rewards)

 Context examples 

Also called CBT and cognitive behavior therapy.

(Cognitive therapy, NCI Dictionary)

There is no cure for FASDs. Treatments can help. These include medicines to help with some symptoms and behavior therapy.

(Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Talk therapy and behavior therapy for your child can also help.

(Child Behavior Disorders, NIH)

Also called cognitive behavior therapy and cognitive therapy.

(CBT, NCI Dictionary)

Treatments may also include behavior therapy and medicines.

(Asperger Syndrome, NIH: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development)

The study, prevention, and treatment of medical and psychosomatic disorders and of undesirable behaviors, such as overeating and substance abuse, by the application of behavior therapy techniques, such as biofeedback, relaxation training, and hypnosis.

(Behavioral Medicine, NCI Thesaurus)

One treatment for this type of OCD is a form of cognitive behavior therapy called exposure and response prevention, which involves instructing OCD patients to touch contaminated surfaces, such as a toilet, but to refrain from then washing their hands.

(Deep brain stimulation may significantly improve OCD symptoms, University of Cambridge)