behavior therapy

American  

noun

Psychology.

1. a form of therapy emphasizing the correction of a person's undesirable behavior through Pavlovian conditioning, aversive therapy, or similar learning techniques.

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Etymology

Origin of behavior therapy

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

behavior therapy

For the past three years, she’s been home with her twin daughters as they went through intensive behavior therapy for autism.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 8, 2025

For two weeks, she participated in dialectical behavior therapy, a form of talk therapy in which patients learn and practice skills, such as mindfulness, to manage intense feelings.

From Slate ● Sep. 15, 2025

A signpost with six arrows on it sent users to different activities, each based on methods shown to improve mental health, such as dialectical behavior therapy and mindfulness-based stress reduction.

From Science Daily ● May 1, 2024

Violence interruption programs seek to identify those people, with some working out of hospitals, others offering a carrot-and-stick approach along with the police, while others provide cognitive behavior therapy and mentoring.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 4, 2023

Therapists trained in dialectical behavior therapy can be expensive and hard to find, and are often booked solid.

From New York Times ● Aug. 27, 2022