behaviour therapy

In psychology, the application of behavioural principles, derived from learning theories, to the treatment of clinical conditions such as phobias, obsessions, and sexual and interpersonal problems.

The symptoms of these disorders are regarded as learned patterns of behaviour that therapy can enable the patient to unlearn. For example, in treating a phobia, the patient is taken gradually into the feared situation in about 20 sessions until the fear noticeably reduces.

This type of treatment is called desensitization. Among others are aversion (the behaviour to be unlearned becomes associated with an unpleasant stimulus such as a mild electric shock), operant conditioning (a particular behaviour is reinforced by rewards or discouraged by punishments), and special treatments like the bell and pad method for nocturnal enuresis (a loud bell rings if the patient urinates in bed).