Behavior Modification came about as an alternative to
the concepts or theoretic models of abnormal behavior as
well as the applied intervention in this field. Psychotherapy
is the term traditionally used when referring to this kind of
intervention. Different conditions or events contributed to
its development, including the following:
– The existent models of abnormal behavior, which came
from science or non-psychological disciplines, did not permit
adequate integration of the psychologists’ knowledge. This
limited his work to imitating or complimenting procedures
that had nothing to do with his professional training and
proved to be useless. (Yates, 1970).
– The existing treatments derived from these models were
lengthy, costly, and worst of all, ineffective, with the
additional problem of not considering any type of evaluation
which would permit correcting procedures. As a consequence,
useless and superstitious practices continued (Eysenck, 1952,
1965, 1966).