Most histories of psychology and psychiatry attribute the first group psychotherapy to Joseph Pratt's 1905 class for tuberculosis patients. Pratt's actual treatment procedures are examined. They are shown to have consisted primarily of operant and social-learning techniques, aimed at increasing patient compliance with a demanding therapeutic…

A behavioral weight reduction model for moderately mentally retarded adolescents is described. Six phases of the treatment program are delineated: background in information; selection of students; preintervention procedures (self monitoring and establishing goal weights); active intervention (training, reinforcement, instruction); maintenance…

Research related to the importance of involving parents directly in treatment programming for childhood obesity has provided inconclusive results because of methodological problems and relatively short treatment duration periods. The effectiveness of an extended behavioral weight control program was evaluated during a 10-week treatment phase and…

Summaries of arguments given in the literature both for and against the use of verbal-traditional psychotherapy with mentally retarded individuals is presented. Much research examines process variables in therapy as an approach. Feedback variables are crucial. Results of a research study in which therapy groups composed of mentally retarded adults…

Traditional medical interventions for the management of pain have consisted largely of either pharmacological treatments or surgery to interrupt the involved neural pathways. The results of these procedures have been largely unsatisfactory because of debilitating side effects and recurrence of pain. Investigations of a host of psychological…

The effectiveness of four operant procedures (differential reinforcement of incompatible behavior, omission training, overcorrection, and reinforcement withdrawal) in changing self injurious behavior (SIB) of 16 severely handicapped students was examined. Analysis of correlations between reduction in SIB and subject characteristics, adaptive…

Previous research has shown that certain counseling methods, unlike behavioral counseling procedures, have been unsuccessful in improving the sociometric status of unpopular and uncooperative elementary students. This study attempted to assess the effectiveness of behavioral counseling. Forty elementary students were identified as unpopular and…

A variety of psychotherapeutic methodologies has proliferated as a consequence of rapid growth in the need for mental health services. The effectiveness of many of these methods is questionable. Although each psychotherapeutic technique advances claims for its continued use based on clinical effectiveness, few offer adequate scientific evidence to…

Thirty-six students at a continuation high school were identified as predelinquents and selected as subjects on the basis of their poor attendance and academic records. Pretreatment and posttreatment data were collected on the following variables: attendance figures and academic credits. Following preliminary assessment, the subjects were randomly…

This document presents brief reports on the empirical findings which have emerged or are emerging from over a dozen individual investigations in the field of behavioral counseling. Two distinct but related research strands have emerged. Within the first category which concerns the training process, per se, specific topics include an experimental…

This paper contrasts the behavioral and non-behavioral approaches to counseling, particularly the interview process. A brief discussion of basic theoretical assumptions is included. In behavioral counseling, the relationship can best be characterized as collaboration, and unlike non-behaviorists, the behavioral counselor can assist his client to…

This paper investigates two types of practicum experiences: (1) experiential introspective; and (2) didactic-behavioristic. The hypotheses tested include: (1) there are no differences between mean responses of the counselees in the two above groups; (2) there are no differences between mean responses of the counselors in the two groups; (3) there…

Based on the premises that a major aim of guidance is to help students make wise vocational and educational decisions, and that learning to collect and use relevant information is helpful in making such decisions, this study compares several behavioral reinforcement techniques for effectiveness in increasing information seeking behavior (ISB) by…

A wide variety of counseling techniques based on behavioral principles have been described. While the therapeutic advantages of these techniques have been demonstrated, there is limited evidence to suggest that systematic procedures have been developed to train people to use these techniques. The proposed discrimination model is based on…

This paper demonstrates how the proper use of the relaxation process may: (1) make the counseling experience more fruitful and pleasant; (2) facilitate the maximum functioning of the client; (3) reduce physical and emotional tensions; (4) create a physical condition more conducive to attacking other problems; (5) clear the mind for clear and…