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Concept
Behavioral activation
Summary
Behavioral activation (BA) is a third generation behavior therapy for treating depression. Behavioral activation primarily emphasizes engaging in positive and enjoyable activities to enhance one's mood. It is one form of functional analytic psychotherapy, which is based on a Skinnerian psychological model of behavior change, generally referred to as applied behavior analysis. This area is also a part of what is called clinical behavior analysis (CBA) and makes up one of the most effective practices in the professional practice of behavior analysis. The technique can also be used from a cognitive-behavior therapy framework.
The Beck Institute describes BA as "getting clients more active and involved in life by scheduling activities that have the potential to improve their mood."
BA is about understanding how each person behaves and using specific methods to help them overcome their avoidance of things.
Behavioral activation emerged from a component analysis of cognitive behavioral therapy. This analysis found that any cognitive component added little to the overall treatment of depression. The behavioral component had existed as a stand-alone treatment in the early work of Peter Lewinsohn and thus a group of behaviorists decided that it might be more efficient to pursue a purer behavioral treatment for the disorder. The theory holds that not enough environmental reinforcement or too much environmental punishment can contribute to depression. The goal of the intervention is to increase environmental reinforcement and reduce punishment.
The theoretical underpinnings of behavioral activation for depression is Charles Ferster's functional analysis of depression. Ferster's basic model has been strengthened by further development in the study of reinforcement principles which led to the matching law and continuing theoretical advances in the possible functions of depression, as well as a look at behavior analysis of child development in order to determine long-term patterns which may lead to dysthymia.
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Related people (17)
Related concepts (10)
Functional analytic psychotherapy
Functional analytic psychotherapy (FAP) is a psychotherapeutic approach based on clinical behavior analysis (CBA) that focuses on the therapeutic relationship as a means to maximize client change. Specifically, FAP suggests that in-session contingent responding to client target behaviors leads to significant therapeutic improvements. FAP was first conceptualized in the 1980s by psychologists Robert Kohlenberg and Mavis Tsai who, after noticing a clinically significant association between client outcomes and the quality of the therapeutic relationship, set out to develop a theoretical and psychodynamic model of behavioral psychotherapy based on these concepts.
Clinical behavior analysis
Clinical behavior analysis (CBA; also called clinical behaviour analysis or third-generation behavior therapy) is the clinical application of behavior analysis (ABA). CBA represents a movement in behavior therapy away from methodological behaviorism and back toward radical behaviorism and the use of functional analytic models of verbal behavior—particularly, relational frame theory (RFT).
Acceptance and commitment therapy
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT, typically pronounced as the word "act") is a form of psychotherapy, as well as a branch of clinical behavior analysis. It is an empirically based psychological intervention that uses acceptance and mindfulness strategies along with commitment and behavior-change strategies to increase psychological flexibility. This approach was originally termed comprehensive distancing. Steven C.