Understanding Behavior Disorders: A Contemporary Behavioral Perspective

Behavior analysis today has moved far beyond the simple response-reward conditioning of the past. While still embracing these concepts, modern behavior analysis recognizes that traditional behavioral processes can give rise to other behaviors (e.g., rule governance, relational framing) that can actually alter the way these processes function—a sort of recursive, behavior-modifying-behavior. Traditional behavioral conceptualizations of various behavioral disorders failed to incorporate these function-altering behavioral processes, and as a result, non-behavior analytic models of these disorders were developed to account for the oversights. Behavior analytic theory came to be regarded as too narrow to account for the complexities involved in human pathology. But recent research on the behavior analysis of human language and cognition (e.g., Hayes, Barnes-Holmes, & Roche, 2001) have enabled behavior analysis to regain its theoretical foothold in the description of behavior disorders.

This book provides a working and testable theory of common behavior disorders from a modern behavioral perspective. It covers concepts such as rule-governance, experiential avoidance, and relational framing in addition to traditional behavioral concepts such as reinforcement, punishment, establishing operations, and stimulus control. Most of the theories presented in the book reach beyond the current body of behavior analytic research because most behavior disorders have not been examined through a modern behavior analytic perspective. But the authors describe their behavior analytic model and search for the nonbehavioral research that is consistent with their theory. Throughout, the book presents a logical, plausible, and testable theory that is consistent with modern behavior analytic thinking.

A relatively large portion of the population suffers from some behavior problem, be it their own or that of someone they love. Historically, the discipline of behavior analysis has been successful in using findings from basic research to create effective treatments for these problems. In fact, behavior analytic treatments have become the gold-standard in training those with autism and other developmental disabilities to communicate, engage in good social relations, and reduce self-injury. Although at the forefront of early treatment advances for depression, anxiety, attention deficits, etc., in the last thirty years, basic behavior analytic research has done little to advance the understanding and treatment of these problems. However, with the recent development of a workable behavior analytic theory of language and cognition (i.e., Relational Frame Theory, RFT) along with "third wave" behavioral interventions such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, behavioral activation, and Functional Analytic Psychotherapy, behavior analysis may again be ready to advance both the understanding and treatment of various psychiatric problems.

In this volume, Woods and Kanter present a contemporary behavioral model of behavior disorders that incorporates the findings of current RFT research. Experimentally testable and rich in possibilities for clinical work, this view of disordered behavior is an important milestone in clinical psychotherapy - an opportunity for behavioral clinicians to reintegrate their clinical practice with an experimental analysis of behavior.

Douglas W. Woods, PhD, received his doctorate in clinical psychology from Western Michigan University in 1999. He is a recognized expert in the assessment and treatment of tic disorders and trichotillomania and is currently associate professor and director of clinical training in the Department of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Woods has authored or coauthored more than ninety papers and chapters and has edited two book describing behavioral interventions for tic disorders, trichotillomania, and other repetitive behavior problems. He has presented his work nationally and internationally with over 100 conference presentations and numerous invited talks. Woods is a founding member of the Tourette Syndrome Association’s (TSA) Behavioral Sciences Consortium, is a member of TSA’s Medical Advisory Board, and serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Trichotillomania Learning Center. He has been funded by the TSA Grants program, Trichotillomania Learning Center Grants program, and is currently funded by the NIH as part of two separate multisite research projects investigating the efficacy of behavior therapy for children and adults with Tourette Syndrome.