by Kristen Miller

Created on: May 15, 2009   Last Updated: May 20, 2009

Behavioral therapy is a form of clinical psychological therapy that is completed within a relatively short period of time, and as such, it is an attractive way for those addicted to drugs and alcohol to break their addictions without years of counseling. Treatment is based on psychological principles of habits built out of punishment and reward for behavior. Behavioral therapy works to break old patterns of reward for unhealthy behaviors, and to establish punishments associated with substance abuse and rewards associated with healthy behaviors.

How Behavioral Therapy for Addictions Works

Grounded in principles of operant and classical conditioning, behavioral therapy for drug and alcohol addictions identifies and works to remove situational and emotional factors that lead to substance abuse. For example, if a person typically uses drugs in a certain location, behavioral therapy might identify that and encourage the patient to think of ways to change their behavior so as not to go to that location.

The first key aspect of behavioral therapy, called functional analysis, helps the counselor to get an idea of what these situational factors are that surround the patient's abuse of drugs and alcohol. The second key aspect of behavioral therapy is called skills training, and it is the development of coping skills to refrain from drug use when cravings occur, and to replace unhealthy behaviors with positive ones such as hobbies.

What Takes Place in Behavioral Therapy Counseling Sessions

Although behavioral therapy is grounded in a strong therapeutic relationship between the patient and the counselor, it is different from many other forms of therapies in that it is not intentionally guided into examinations of the patient's past life and feelings. The counselor directs the sessions, with specific agendas and tasks to be completed in each meeting.

One unique aspect of behavioral therapy is that it involves homework assignments for the patient to work on between sessions, and the first part of each session is dedicated to reviewing the results of the previous assignment and talking in general about how the time since the past session has been going, and what skills and strategies have been effective in changing behavior. After that, the counselor identifies a skill that the patient needs to develop, and the counselor teaches the patient about that skill and how to use it. In the last part of the session, the counselor helps the patient to solidify understanding of

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