A Guide to the Types of Behavioral Therapy

Mental health conditions affect nearly one in five adults in the United States, according to the National Institute of Mental Health—yet many people who could benefit from therapy never pursue it, often because they don’t know where to start.

Behavioral therapy is widely practiced in clinical psychology, with decades of research supporting its effectiveness across a range of conditions. But “behavioral therapy” isn’t a single treatment: it’s an umbrella term for many distinct, evidence-based modalities, each with its own methodology and clinical applications.

Understanding these differences can help individuals make more informed decisions and help aspiring counselors determine where their practice might have the greatest impact. The online Master of Arts in Counseling program at Northwestern equips students with the knowledge and clinical skills to apply these approaches with real clients.

Behavioral therapy is a treatment approach that examines behavioral patterns that may make someone’s life difficult, and then works on creating better patterns of behavior. Behavioral therapy has roots in behaviorism, a theory that states human behavior is learned and can be changed.

Unlike psychoanalysis, which looks at past experiences as a link to the present, behavioral therapy focuses on taking an action-oriented approach in the present, and can be beneficial for treating a variety of conditions, such as:

From reframing negative thoughts to reprocessing trauma, behavioral therapy techniques vary widely in their approach, but share a common goal: helping individuals build healthier thought patterns and behaviors.

CBT is a problem-oriented behavioral therapy technique, where people work on specific problems and find the strategies that work best for them. The goal of CBT is self-sufficiency: providing people with the tools they need to cope with life challenges in healthy ways, without continuous therapy. While CBT takes into account a client’s past, it focuses on the present to illuminate, identify, and change maladaptive thought patterns and behaviors.

With CBT, individuals identify negative thoughts and restructure them. Clients often receive homework after each session to practice and practically apply ways to change behavior, looking for evidence in the real world that challenges their thoughts and reframing or noting them in a journal.

According to the American Psychological Association, effective CBT strategies include:

CBT is effective for treating:

DBT is a behavioral therapy approach that helps individuals accept the reality of their lives while working toward meaningful change. It was originally designed to treat individuals with suicidal ideation and borderline personality disorder (BPD). As DBT has evolved, it has been adapted for treating people with different mental health conditions, but it’s still used to treat people with BPD and other individuals who experience very intense emotions.

What’s the difference between DBT and CBT? While CBT asks people to acknowledge and change their negative thoughts, DBT’s emphasis is on validating and accepting those thoughts while working on more helpful behaviors.

DBT focuses on regulating emotions, practicing mindfulness, improving interpersonal relationships, and building greater resilience to distressing events. As an individual comes to terms with how their thoughts manifest in unhealthy behaviors, DBT demonstrates that change is possible.

Therapists who practice DBT help individuals find a balance between acceptance and change, guiding them toward healthier ways to cope with existing issues. DBT is particularly effective for individuals who manage intensely negative emotions in unhealthy ways.

DBT is effective for treating:

Exposure therapy is frequently used to treat phobias, PTSD, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, providing individuals with a safe space to identify, explore, and confront their fears. Typically, individuals with these conditions work with a therapist to find what triggers their anxiety, and to avoid reverting to avoidance behaviors or rituals when those triggers arise.

By creating a controlled environment where clients can safely face their fears and practice better coping strategies, therapists help clients gradually reduce the power those triggers hold. This can be done in two ways: flooding and desensitization.

Both flooding and desensitization are very effective treatments for phobias, as individuals can practice how to overcome them without judgment. By shifting a fear or phobia from something debilitating to viewing it in a more realistic light, individuals can regain control and enjoy a better quality of life. Some studies show that exposure therapy for specific phobias can achieve a success rate between 80%–90%.

Exposure therapy is effective in treating

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy (EMDR) is a technique that uses rapid and repetitive eye movements to replace negative reactions to traumatic events with positive or neutral reactions and beliefs. This is called dual stimulation, in which the brain is stimulated with back-and-forth eye movements while an individual simultaneously recalls traumatic memories.

EMDR is used to treat individuals with PTSD. Often, traumatic memories take the form of flashbacks, which can make an individual feel overwhelmed and out of control, as though they are reliving the traumatic event. While it’s a relatively new treatment that started in the late 1980s, EMDR has been effective for helping individuals heal from trauma or other distressing life experiences.

Severe trauma is like a wound to the mind that doesn’t fully heal—which is why certain sights, sounds, and sensations can force a person to suddenly relive their trauma unprompted. When an individual undergoes EMDR, they revisit traumatic memories in very specific ways.

With a therapist’s guidance and bilateral stimulation, an individual can access and reprocess what they remember from that memory, helping to heal the mental wound. In time, the repeated reprocessing becomes less traumatic, and feelings around the memory diminish in intensity.

EMDR is effective in treating:

Different types of therapists specialize in different modalities, and finding the right fit depends on an individual’s goals and needs. When looking for the right kind of therapy, a person’s own goals and existing mental health challenges play an important role.

CBT is useful for examining and deconstructing a pattern of negative thoughts and feelings that can lead to anxiety and depression. CBT can help someone move from thoughts that reinforce negative beliefs about themselves (“I’m a failure and can’t do anything right”) to positively reframing these thoughts (“I have evidence that I am capable, and it’s okay to make mistakes”).

DBT is often best for those experiencing overwhelming negative emotions that are manifesting in behaviors such as self-harm or eating disorders. The therapist will help ground a client by acknowledging and accepting who they are in the present, while working with them to create better behaviors through problem-solving techniques.

Exposure therapy is useful for individuals with a phobia, such as aviophobia (fear of flying). For example, an individual with aviophobia will start by looking at a picture of an airplane, while a therapist will gradually increase the exposure intensity over time. Therapists can also utilize technology, such as virtual reality exposure therapy (VRE), to simulate the experience of flying.

EMDR can be useful for individuals with severe depression or other conditions stemming from trauma or distress from war, abuse, crime, or other disturbing experiences. During EMDR, therapists will prepare their clients for what to expect, then guide them through a structured process of bilateral stimulation while the client focuses on a target memory. Over multiple sessions, the emotional charge of the memory typically lessens.

For those looking to go beyond understanding these approaches and into practicing them, the right training makes all the difference. Northwestern’s online Master of Arts in Counseling is accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), and prepares graduates to work with diverse populations across a range of clinical settings.

Through coursework that examines the various types of theories in counseling, students also gain the clarity to determine whether social work versus mental health counseling is the right professional path for them. Becoming a counselor starts with the right education. For students ready to take the next step, explore Northwestern’s online counseling degree and learn how the program can help build the skills to transform lives.

Created by Counseling@Northwestern, the online Master of Arts in Counseling program from The Family Institute at Northwestern University.