7. Behavioral approach in individual and family counseling.

1. Basic theoretical principles

Behavioral counseling is, according to J. Volpe, “... conditioning therapy, implying the use of the principles of learning formulated in the process of experimentation to change inappropriate behavior, weak adaptive habits, and adaptive habits are introduced and strengthened.”

The founders of behaviorism were J. Watson and VF Skinner, who developed the ideas of Trondike. This approach can be described as a direction that uses the principles of learning in helping clients solve their behavioral problems.

Stimulus, reaction and conditioning are key concepts of behavioral psychology.

In the process of evolution, people developed sense organs, such as eyes, skin, and internal organs, which are most sensitive to various types of stimuli. The stimulus, or the object that causes the reaction, may emanate from objects in the external environment. People are also constantly affected by the stimuli that originate from their internal environment (the emergence of these stimuli is the result of changes that occur in the tissues of various organs) Through the conditioning of the range of stimuli to which people react, it expands more and more. Incentives cause reactions that usually cause the body to move or change in such a way that these stimuli cease to cause a reaction. All reactions can be divided into open and hidden, or acquired and innate. Congenital reactions include everything that people do from the first days of infancy. In particular, these include sweating and breathing, as well as the conditioning and formation of habits that give rise to acquired reactions. Watson noted that the leitmotif of human activity is to produce reactions to appropriate stimuli. In other words, from the point of view of behavioral psychology, the whole set of human emotional experiences can be reduced to conditioned reflex behavior. For example, love is the reaction of a male to a female, with the aim of removing the discomfort caused by the overproduction of sex hormones.

Conflict theory

Behaviorism considers all psychological problems and ways to solve them in a schematized form, using the terms “stimulus” (or, in more complex cases, “situation”) and “reaction” (abbreviations S and R are common). In an ideal world, a behaviorist with each response can be found, the stimuli that caused it, and with these incentives, the response can be predicted. Thus, a neurotic conflict is, first of all, “wrong” reactions to a number of stimuli.

Family theory

The methodological origins of the family's behavioral theory go back to the works of B. F. Skinner, A. Bandura, D. Rotter, D. Kelly, and others.

The following theoretical concepts of behavioral psychology are essential for understanding the concept of family, which lies in the basis of the behavioral model of family counseling.

1. Man is regarded as an organism that possesses an acquired set of behavioral responses (B. F. Skinner). The environment has a strong influence on the formation, change and long-term preservation of behavior. Events occurring in the external environment, initiate, form and maintain a certain behavior of individual subjects.

2. There are two main types of behavior: respondent, as a response to a familiar prior (antecedent) stimulus or situation, and operant, determined by the result following it (B. F. Skinner). With operant learning, the body acts on the environment, producing results and causing consequences that affect the likelihood that a given behavior will repeat. The operant reaction, followed by a positive result, tends to repeat itself, while the non-operant reaction, which causes negative consequences, tends not to repeat itself.

3. Behavior is controlled by both positive and averse incentives, such as punishment and negative reinforcement. Positive punishment occurs when a pleasant stimulus follows a particular behavioral response, and a negative punishment is that the response is followed by the removal of a pleasant stimulus. Negative reinforcement occurs when an individual manages to limit or avoid presenting an aversive stimulus.

4. The theoretical basis for understanding marital conflict is presented in the theory of social exchange. According to this theory, each individual seeks to obtain the maximum reward at the lowest cost. Interaction in a pair is considered satisfactory to the extent that partners provide each other with rewards that exceed costs, and unsatisfactory if costs prevail over benefits.

According to the theory of social exchange, good relationships are created when, in interaction with another, you get more than you give when the “gain” from the relationship is more than the “price” you paid for them. In a family, spouses, parents, and children seek to increase the “rewards” as much as possible and to reduce the “costs” in the relationship as much as possible. In a successful marriage union, both partners make efforts to reward and encourage the other as much as possible, while minimizing costs.

One spouse may at times receive more than give and at the same time experience positive emotions, be satisfied with himself and the other. The predominance of positive emotions over negative plays the role of positive reinforcement. In this case, satisfaction with the relationship increases, the family functions well.

Since in the family it is impossible to constantly extract all the benefits for all, then for harmonious relations it is important to maintain a balance between “take” and “give”, “benefit” and “price”. This means that in a healthy family, positive emotions prevail over negative ones, there are no “exploiters” and “humiliated ones”, but there is a relationship of equal contribution and equal benefit. In the opposite case, in unhappy marriages, partners are too focused on protecting themselves from possible offenses, in order to think about how to make each other enjoyable. In such families, spouses can reduce the cost of the relationship, if they move away from each other, to resort to alienation. Another way to reduce costs may be the use in the interaction of mainly negative reinforcement and (or) punishment. As Tibo and Kelly note, the behavioral exchange follows the principle of reciprocity (reciprocity): negative or positive stimulation emanating from one person usually causes corresponding behavior on the part of the other. Pleasant behavior stimulates positive reactions, and malevolence causes malevolence.

5. The interaction between family members is characterized by one-pointedness. It recognizes linear causality in explaining the behavior of family members. In other words, the behavior of one family member initiates the behavior of another. The structural unit of the pattern of interaction in the family can be represented by the following chain: the anti-creeping event (stimulus)> problematic behavior> event-consequence. In other words, control of problem behavior is carried out through incentives immediately preceding or following it. Prior (anti-creeping) stimuli can provoke a certain behavior or suppress it. For example, reproaches and claims on the part of the wife for unbought products, for unfulfilled promises inhibit the manifestation of affection, attention from the husband. On the contrary, the news from her husband about getting a bonus or buying a rest day package raises the spirits of the wife, she becomes more sociable and caring.

Incentives that appear after certain forms of behavior have an impact on the frequency and frequency of such behavior.

They can act as positive reinforcement, reward: praise,

underline pleasant; as negative reinforcement, termination of unacceptable

behavior: reproaches, abuse, threats, hostile silence; as punishment: reproaches, hostility, ignorance of friendliness; as the extinction, the rejection of positive reinforcements: the lack of

teresa, giving yourself, etc.

With differentiated reinforcement, certain actions and reactions are encouraged, others are ignored. For example, the wife prepared breakfast - praise, kiss, gentle words of the spouse (encouragement). The husband did not remove the dishes (usually there were reproaches from his wife) - the termination of reproaches (negative reinforcement). The husband buys products regularly - no reactions from his wife, and at the beginning there were words of gratitude (ignoring).

6. Spousal satisfaction is largely associated with the “encouraging” behavior of partners towards each other, that is, satisfaction with marriage is directly related to the behavior of each spouse. Satisfaction with marriage increases if this behavior of the partner pleases the other, which not only leads to an increase in the exchange of positive emotions, but also strengthens confidence in the strength of the marriage.

2. Consulting techniques

Objectives of counseling

1. Elimination of the deficit in behavioral reactions.

2. Strengthening adaptive behavior.

3. Weakening or eliminating inappropriate behavior.

4. Elimination of debilitating anxiety reactions.

5. The development of the ability to relax.

6. The development of the ability to assert itself.

7. Development of self-regulation ability.

Behavioral counseling relies primarily on a rational analysis of misbehavior. It is proposed to correct this behavior.

using reason and will power.

Cognitive errors. Dysfunctional beliefs embedded in cognitive patterns contribute to the emergence of systematic cognitive errors that characterize psychopathology and contribute to its preservation.

Arbitrary inference. Derivation of certain conclusions in the absence of evidence confirming the correctness of the conclusions, and sometimes even when reality clearly contradicts the conclusions. An example of arbitrary conclusion is a working mother who concludes at the end of a difficult day “I am a terrible mother”.

Selective abstraction. Selective manifestation of attention to the details taken out of context, while ignoring other, more significant information.

An example of selective abstraction is a lover who is beginning to be jealous, seeing that his girlfriend is tilting his head to the interlocutor at a noisy party to hear it better.

Generalization. Derivation of a general rule or conclusion from one or several isolated cases. Too wide application of this rule, including to situations not related to it. An example of generalization is a woman who, after a disappointing date, comes to the following conclusion: "Men will always reject me."

Exaggeration and understatement. Wrong assessment, consideration of specific events as much more or much less important than they really are. An example of exaggeration is a student who predicts a catastrophe: "If I become a little nervous, I will certainly fail." An example of understatement - a person who believes that "Twice the projectile in one funnel does not fall, this time everything will cost."

Personalization. There is a tendency to associate external events with themselves in the absence of adequate evidence. For example, a person sees a friend walking across the busy street who does not notice his welcome waving, and thinks: “I must have been offended by something”.

Dichotomic thinking. “Black-and-white,” “or-or,” polarized thinking is all synonymous with the term “dichotomous thinking.” This is a thinking characterized by maximalism. For example, a student thinks "If I do not pass this exam for" excellent ", I am a loser."

Tunnel vision. Tunnel vision is associated with selective abstraction. People perceive only that which corresponds to their mood, although the perceived event can only be part of a much larger situation. An example of tunnel vision is a husband who does not see anything positive done for him by his wife.

Biased explanations. If relationships hurt people, they tend to attribute negative feelings and thoughts to each other. People may be too willing to admit that evil intentions or unworthy motives are behind the “offensive” actions of a partner. For example, one of the partners may explain the occurrence of family problems by the bad nature of the other partner.

Gluing negative labels. This error is made on the basis of biased explanations. Partners constantly attach critical labels to each other's actions. At the same time, partners are keenly reacting to labels that they have stuck to each other (for example, to accusations such as “inattentive” or “bully”), as if these labels are real things. In the worst case, partners can "demonize" each other.

Reading thoughts. Two errors can be distinguished here: “I can find out what my partner thinks” and “My partner must be able to read my thoughts.” Partners may harm their relationship by making assumptions based on any of these errors.

Subjective reasoning. At the heart of subjective argumentation lies the following erroneous belief that if a person experiences some very strong emotion, this emotion is justified.

Manifestation of attention. A person who wants to learn new behavior, should carefully study the new behavior, trying, if possible, to accurately remember it. One set of attention variables includes such characteristics of incentives as fitness, clarity (clarity), attractiveness, and the functional value of a new behavior. Another set of attention variables includes observer characteristics, such as arousal level, perception habits, etc.

Preservation. For learning to be effective, it must be remembered. Preservation implies either figurative information storage, or (which takes place much more often) coding the intended behavior and turning it into easily applicable verbal characters. In practice, cognitive skills and structures of observers can enhance conservation. Motivation to learning plays a role in saving, although motivational incentives are more auxiliary than necessary.

Production. At a certain stage of counseling, symbolic representations of new behavior need to be translated into effective action. This is a rather complicated process, which is primarily affected by the production effect, which consists in switching the energy of the old behavior to a new channel.

Motivation. A clear distinction should be made between learning and performance because people are not motivated to put into action everything they learn. The client will most likely accept the modeled behavior if it:

a) brings external benefits

b) is internally positively evaluated,

c) benefits other people, and this can be observed.

Modeling of thought processes. According to

behaviorists, the client can learn thinking skills by observing the thinking of a consultant acting as a model. However, hidden thought processes are often inadequately transmitted by simulated actions. For example, a model can solve a problem cognitively, and the client sees only the resulting actions, without understanding the thinking processes leading to the commission of these actions. The approach to learning cognitive skills should be such - the consultant should speak out of hearing the thoughts that arise during his problem solving. It is advisable to combine non-verbal and verbal modeling. At the same time non-verbal modeling allows you to show attention and retain it, in addition, there is the possibility of transferring cognitive processes through the open behavior.

The role of reinforcement. In accordance with the socio-cognitive point of view, learning through observation does not necessarily require an external reward (reward). Such learning occurs through cognitive processing of information in the course of modeling, and before the observers carry out any reactions whatsoever. By skinner

such learning through observation is achieved when the reactions that correspond to the actions of the model, which do not correspond to the actions of the reaction model, are either not rewarded or punished. Thus, the behavior of others becomes a stimulus for the formation of appropriate reactions. However, this explanation of learning through observation has disadvantages. The client can perform the simulated behavior in the wrong environment in which it was modeled. Both the consultant and the client may not receive reinforcements, since a new behavior may appear in a few days or even weeks.

Learning in action. Learning in action, or learning through experience, is extremely widespread. There is a difference between knowledge and skill. In many areas, people must go beyond knowledge structures to develop action skills.

Systematic desensitization. Systematic desensitization is a behavioral counseling technique, an important component of which is relaxation. It is advisable to use it if, during a behavioral assessment procedure, a client identifies specific anxieties or phobias, and not just general tension. However, it should be noted that behavioral assessments should be adequate. For example, a client may feel anxious when testing or when a professional decision is needed because he does not have decision-making skills. In such cases, it may be more appropriate to reduce anxiety through training in appropriate skills than through systematic desensitization.

Systematic desensitization includes three elements: a) training for deep muscle relaxation;

b) building hierarchies of disturbing incentives,

c) offer the client to imagine, being in a state of relaxation,

alarm objects from hierarchies.

Reasonable explanation. Before conducting a systematic desensitization, behavioral counselors usually try to explain to the clients in an intelligible way what the essence of this technique is. At the same time, consultants take into account customer complaints revealed during behavioral assessment. The explanation may include a statement of the essence of the principle of the methodology, then you should also briefly describe the three elements of systematic desensitization. In addition, the consultant should note that the acquisition of relaxation skills allows you to cope with situations of concern.

Выстраивание иерархий. Дж. Вольпе пишет: «Иерархия тревог — это своего рода список вызывающих тревогу стимулов, оцениваемых в соответствии с уровнем чувства тревоги, которое они вызывают». Существует целый ряд особенностей выстраивания иерархий десенсибилизации:

1. Консультант при расспросе клиента определяет темы, которые смогли бы объединить стимулы, вызывающие тревогу. Стимулам, которые наиболее часто нарушают функционирование клиентов, уделяется больше всего внимания. Для определения тем используются поведенческие оценки. Эти темы могут иметь отношение к любой из множества вызывающих тревогу ситуаций, например к публичному выступлению, сдаче экзаменов, еде в общественном месте, общению с представителями противоположного пола, половому контакту.

2. Консультант знакомит клиента с понятием «субъективная шкала тревоги или страха». Потенциал вызывающих тревогу стимулов из иерархии оценивается следующим образом: принимается, что оценка 0 соответствует полному отсутствию чувства тревоги, а оценка 100 соответствует максимальной выраженности чувства тревоги, которое может возникнуть в связи с данным видом стимула. Таким образом, конкретные виды стимулов могут быть оценены по тому, какую позицию они занимают на субъективной шкале тревоги.

3. Клиент для каждой темы определяет соответствующие пункты иерархии. Консультант просит клиента подробно и четко описать соответствующие ситуации. Консультант определяет, какие формулировки будут оптимальными. Для определения пунктов иерархии могут быть использованы данные, собранные при проведении поведенческих оценок, данные, взятые из контрольных дневников клиентов, предположения консультанта или клиента, ответы, полученные при анкетном опросе.

4. Клиент перечисляет пункты каждой конкретной темы в иерархическом порядке, для оценки пунктов используется их субъективная шкала тревоги и расположение их в соответствующем порядке. Часть этой работы может быть проделана клиентом при выполнении домашнего задания.

Сущность методики систематической десенсибилизации. Человек, находящийся в состоянии глубокой релаксации (достигнутой с помощью методики прогрессирующей мышечной релаксации Э. Джекобсона), вызывает у себя в сознании представления о ситуациях, приводящих к возникновению страха. Он воображает эти ситуации 5-7 с, затем устраняет возникшую тревогу путем усиления релаксации. Работа начинается с той ситуации, которая вызывает наименьший страх. Представление ситуации повторяется несколько раз, и если у клиента тревога не возникает, переходят к следующей, более трудной ситуации. За одно занятие отрабатываются 3-4 ситуации. Количество сеансов может варьировать от 4-5 до 12 и более. Работа заканчивается, когда самый сильный стимул перестанет вызывать у клиента страх.

Виды десенсибилизации

1. Десенсибилизация в реальной жизни. Данный вид десенсибилизации применим к тем ситуациям, которые могут быть многократно повторены в действительности. Stages of work:

а) составляется иерархия ситуаций, вызывающих страх;

б) тренировка в реальных ситуациях: клиента побуждают сталкиваться с ситуациями, вызывающими страх, в присутствии психолога, которому клиент доверяет и в присутствии которого он испытывает глубокое чувство безопасности. Здесь фактором, противостоящим страху, является чувство безопасности в присутствии конкретного человека - психолога.

2. Контактная десенсибилизация Клиента побуждают прикоснуться к объекту, вызывающему страх (например, собаке), в присутствии психолога и при наличии гарантий безопасности. Зачастую этому предшествует моделирование: другой человек, не испытывающий данного страха, на глазах у клиента совершает ряд действий с объектом, вызывающим у клиента страх, согласно заранее составленному списку.

3. Эмотивное воображение. Используется в работе с детьми. Ребенок в роли любимого героя, разыгрывая ситуации из его жизни, постепенно сталкивается с ситуациями, ранее вызывавшими у него страх. Хорошо развитое у детей воображение помогает им при этом переключиться на иные, чем наблюдалось раньше, способы эмоционального реагирования.