The Use of Behavior Therapy in Psychological Disorders

The Use of Behavior Therapy in Psychological Disorders Resulting in Physical Illness (Psychosomatic Illnesses) Behavior therapy treats a variety of psychological disorders whose primary feature is a physical problem. Psychological factors and physical problems influence each other reciprocally.

1. 1 Enuresis The urine alarm is an efficient and effective treatment of enuresis. An alarm is activated when urine comes in contact with a special pad in the child's underpants or under the bed sheet. Through repeated pairings of the alarm and bladder tension, bladder tension alone comes to awaken the child before urination starts.

2. Tics Behavioral treatments for tics include massed negative practice (deliberately performing the tic as rapidly as possible), changing maintaining consequences, relaxation training, and self-monitoring. Habit reversal, the most effective treatment, incorporates four components: awareness training, relaxation training, competing response training, and reinforcement. Awareness training and competing response training are the critical components.

3. Insomnia When infant and toddler sleep problems are maintained by parental attention, extinction, involving withholding attention for nighttime crying. It is a simple, effective treatment. Modified forms of extinction are more acceptable to parents but somewhat less effective.

3. Insomnia For adult insomnia, stimulus control procedures establish a client's being in bed as a clear-cut cue only for sleeping. Relaxation training helps clients reduce muscle tension associated with insomnia prior to going to bed. Cognitive restructuring reduces worry about sleeping by identifying, challenging, and replacing maladaptive beliefs about sleep with adaptive cognitions. Treatment packages involving stimulus control, relaxation training, cognitive restructuring, sleep restriction, and sleep education for insomnia are appropriate when a client's sleeping problems are the result of multiple maintaining conditions.

4. Bulimia The treatment of choice for bulimia is a comprehensive cognitivebehavioral treatment package that includes self-monitoring, stimulus control, activity scheduling, cognitive restructuring, collaborative empiricism, problem solving, flooding, and relapse prevention. The treatment package reduces binge eating and purging and improves self-image, self-esteem, depression, and social functioning.

5. Addictive behaviors Behavioral treatments of addictive behaviors include aversion therapy, cue exposure, and consequential therapies. Aversion therapy pairs the addictive behavior with an aversive stimulus to discourage engaging in it. Cue exposure involves exposing the client to cues associated with the addictive behavior and preventing the client from engaging in the addictive behavior. Consequential therapies use reinforcers for abstaining from addictive behaviors and response cost for engaging in addictive behaviors.

5. Addictive behaviors Relapse prevention is a cognitive-behavioral treatment package that prepares clients who engage in addictive behaviors for future relapses by having them identify high-risk situations; develop coping skills; practice the coping skills before they are needed; and develop a balanced lifestyle. Relapse prevention also may prove to be a general procedure for increasing the long-term maintenance of treatment gains with diverse problem behaviors.

The Use of Behavior Therapy in Psychological Disorders Resulting in Physical Illness (Psychosomatic Illnesses) Behavior therapy treats a variety of psychological disorders whose primary feature is a physical problem. Psychological factors and physical problems influence each other reciprocally.