Behavioral or Cognitive Behavioral?
Which is right for you, or should they be used together?
Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Classical Conditioning
Operant Condtioning
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Therapies Working Together
When these therapies are used in conjunction with one another it can create a very good foundation for behavioral change allowing for flexibility and versatility in treatments. Multimodal therapy is an example of combined therapy. These therapists borrow techniques used in a variety of problems (Corey, 2013). The assumption of this approach is that individuals have many problems that require a multitude of techniques to treat.
However, there are certain times when these therapies can be used separately. Behavioral therapy might be used to break bad habits, and is frequently used in training dogs for that purpose. Cognitive behavioral therapy is used to change irrational thoughts, and if someone comes in with low self-esteem, this therapy might be all that is needed to change the thought process alone.
Example
As an example, it may be best to use the combination therapy of both cognitive behavioral and behavioral to treat someone with procrastination problems--we will use homework reading. The individual would come in and the the therapist would begin to ask question about what were they thinking about when they were supposed to sit down and read but kept finding things to do so they couldn't. The therapist would also ask them how they felt towards the reading and/or whatever chores they felt "had" to be done first. The client and therapist would then work out a system of action. Maybe the client is to read for 20-30 minutes at a time with never having a rest time in between readings over 15 minutes, at least three or four times in a block. If they complete this, then they can reward their self with maybe a snack and play time on electronic for a half-hour. When the reading is complete and the questions are answered, the reward of having read the material will hopefully reflect in the grade received, again rewarding the individual and making them feel good about having read. This institutes the changing the way a person thinks and feels combined with the positive reinforcement needed for conditioning to change the unwanted behavior.