How Is Positive Reinforcement Used In Psychotherapy?
Positive reinforcement is one of the most valuable resources in the field of psychotherapy, and many of the strategies used by psychologists have it at their core, as a fundamental part of their way of helping patients.
But… How exactly is this type of psychological phenomenon used when a person goes to a psychologist to overcome a mental disorder or to manage something that causes discomfort? In this article We will see how positive reinforcement is used in psychotherapy.
Positive reinforcement is a type of experience that occurs when a type of behavior pattern is internalized and repeated over and over again because the individual associates it with a desirable situation that occurs as a consequence of this.
As such, it is a process widely taken into account in psychology within the framework of operant conditioning, which is the set of strategies used to modify the behavior of human beings or animals causing them to tend to perform certain behaviors and tend not to perform others.
For example, we are dealing with a case of positive reinforcement when, for having helped his brother, a child’s parents praise his behavior and comment that they are proud of him; This experience is not only pleasant, but it will also contribute to the child giving more value to his role as “support” for her loved ones and continuing to behave in that way.
Of course, A single experience of positive reinforcement is rarely enough to “lock in” a pattern of behavior and that is why psychologists design behavior modification programs to help people properly manage their routines and their ways of managing the emotions and thoughts they experience daily.
Of course, any psychological intervention program based on positive reinforcement must aim to gradually increase the reinforcing element given to the patient so that they can overcome their problem (for example, symbolic rewards after spending a certain number of days without taking drugs) should hope that at a certain point these reinforcing “rewards” can be withdrawn without the person suffering again from the problem for which they sought professional help.
Thus, positive reinforcement gives rise to a type of learning, but its use It is not limited only to the world of parenting and education, but it is also very relevant in the context of psychotherapy. Let’s see how.
How do we use positive reinforcement in psychological therapy?
Now that we have seen the main characteristics of positive reinforcement, let’s go to its most practical aspect in the field of psychotherapy: how is it used by psychologists when helping their patients?
1. It is the core of therapy for boys and girls with behavioral disorders
We begin this list with a clear example of the use of positive reinforcement in psychological therapy, which is none other than intervention in children and adolescents who have developed behavioral disorders. This type of psychological alterations They are characterized by impulsiveness, the tendency to almost never respect the rules of coexistence and the predisposition to use drugs and adopt violent behavior (physically and verbally).
In most cases, these young people have only experienced hostility and punishment in their social interactions, something that makes them feel even more disconnected from other people. But through positive reinforcement, they are able to feel for the first time that there are certain patterns of behavior capable of providing them well-being not only in the short term, but also in the medium and long term. In this way, little by little they are reconciling with the world and they learn ways to mitigate the symptoms of this disorder linked to antisocial behavior.
Now, as we will see, positive reinforcement is not only used as a “reward” for “children who behave well”, as it is usually understood in the context of parenting. In most cases, it is used in more subtle ways.
2. Helps put into practice techniques learned in sessions with the psychologist
Psychotherapy is not only meetings between patient and therapist; It also takes place in the time that passes between sessions. But if the person does not apply what he learns in the consultation to his daily life, he will hardly experience progress.
Therefore, positive reinforcement is used to make the person internalize a dynamic of incentives that is in place every day making you associate the key moments of your daily life with the problem for which you have gone to the psychologist, and knowing what to do to adequately deal with these types of experiences.
For example, in the treatment of a phobia, this procedure helps the person to always be aware of the situations in which they must use a controlled breathing technique that allows them to “resist” the experience without fleeing or avoiding it, and to see motivated by that goal, both because in her memory she associates it with obtaining a reinforcer, and because of the fact that in specific situations she can self-administer “the reward.”
3. It allows the patient’s environment to provide this reinforcement
What happens when the professional is not around and there is no one prepared to give the reinforcer to the patient? This may seem like a problem, but in reality it is not, because the reason for this kind of psychological intervention is that “the reward” becomes more and more abstract until there comes a point where the person detects it in the consequences of their appropriate behavior.
But to achieve this, psychologists often try to get the family members of the person they work with to collaborate in the process, or they give the patient a series of guidelines so that their loved ones can participate in the process of positive reinforcement that occurs. It spreads and distributes in the person’s social environment. For example, they are asked to inform others of the goal they have set by going to therapy, to keep them informed of their progress, etc. In this way, the positive reactions of these people and their interest in the process will generate a series of expectations that will surround the patient and make them feel especially good as they improve.
4. Helps get patients into healthy lifestyle routines
On the other hand, we must not forget that a good part of psychotherapy is focused on helping the person break the vicious circle of self-induced discomfort from an inadequate lifestyle (caused in part by poor management of their emotions in the face of problem that affects you). Therefore, you are prepared to adopt healthy habits: eat better, sleep enough hours, avoid harmful forms of leisure, etc.
The reinforcement applied within the framework of psychotherapy is part of that incentive system that “puts the patient on track” on that route of good habits. And once you have been living that way for a few weeks, you will surely have more energy and a greater ability to concentrate to continue achieving the goals set in psychotherapy.
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