Habit Reversal Procedures

Question 1

Definition of bad habits

Answer 1

Repetitive or stereotyped behaviours (persistent postural, gestural or verbal responses) that serve no useful purpose and tend to be an annoyance
Occur automatically/subconsciously

Question 2

What cues a habit? How are they learned

Answer 2

Cued by aspects of performance context
Learned through process of repititoin, stored in procedural memory

Question 3

What is procedural memory

Answer 3

Memory subsystem that supports minimally conscious control of skilled action
involve the striatum of the basal ganglia, associated with voluntary motor control

Question 4

Habits are maintained by

Answer 4

automatic reinforcement

Question 5

Examples of habits

Answer 5

1. nervous habits
2. motor tics
3. vocal tics
4. Tourette’s syndrome
5. stuttering

Question 6

Behaviour may be considered a disorder if it…

Answer 6

1. is distressing to the person
2. occurs with sufficient frequency or intensity to cause the person to seek treatment
3. has adverse physical or social effects on the person

Question 7

What is a nervous habit

Answer 7

Repetitive, manipulative behaviours that are assumed to occur when a person experiences heightened nervous tension
e.g. fingernail biting, teeth grinding

Question 8

Nervous habits aka? Induced by…

Answer 8

Body-focused repetitive behaviours
Induced by boredom, frustration, stress

Question 9

What are motor tics? E.g.?

Answer 9

Repetitive, jerking movements of the body
e.g. facial tics, head jerking

Question 10

Motor tics may be due to..

Answer 10

Increased muscle tension
Certain movement may produce relief to injured area, tics persist after injury has healed

Question 11

What is a vocal tic? E.g.

Answer 11

Repetitive nonspeech vocal sound that does not convey information or serve a social function
e.g. excessive throat-clearing, uttered sounds

Question 12

What is tourette’s syndrome

Answer 12

Includes multiple motor tics and at least one vocal tic

Question 13

Causes of tourettes

Answer 13

Genetic and environmental factors
Presents with other comorbid factors (like ADHD or OCD)

Question 14

How is tourettes treated

Answer 14

Not medication, behaviour therapies (e.g. DRO)

Question 15

What is stuttering? Beh treatment?

Answer 15

Speech disfluency in which a person repeats syllables or words, prolongs the length of a syllable or word, or experiences blocking
Therapies include breathing exercises, fluency shaping, stuttering modification therapy

Question 16

Definition of habit reversal procedures

Answer 16

an approach for decreasing a behavior that does not concentrate on providing or withdrawing reinforcers and is implemented by the target person, usually under the supervision of a behavior analyst or other therapist

Question 17

Two main components of habit reversal training

Answer 17

1. Awareness training: person is taught to describe the problem beh and watch for it/notice when it occurs
2. Competing response training: person taught to perform a beh that is incompatible with target beh

Question 18

Habit reversal training may also apply…

Answer 18

1. Social support: family member of friend can point out target beh, prompt competing beh, reinforce competing beh
2. Motivation strategy: beh analyst works w client to determine situations and antecedents for the target beh as well as consequences

Question 19

Steps to applying habit reversal training

Answer 19

1. client learns to describe and identify problem beh
2. client learns/practices a beh that is incompatible or competes w problem beh
3. client reviews adverse affects of the disorder, records and graphs beh for motivation

Question 20

Other habit reversal procedures

Answer 20

1. Generalization training
2. Aversion therapy
3. Massed negative practice

Question 21

What is generalization training

Answer 21

Focuses on how to control tics in everyday situations (person practices tic-control procedures in sessions)
Then does covert rehearsal
Then tries to control in real world

Question 22

What is covert rehearsal

Answer 22

Person imagines common and tic-eliciting situations then performs the tic-control exercise

Question 23

What is aversion therapy

Answer 23

a form of respondent conditioning which involved the repeated pairing of a troublesome reinforcer with an aversive event
e.g. disulfiram given with alcohol = nausea
Uses aversive stimuli (elastic band, electric shocks)

Question 24

What is covert sensitization? What uses it

Answer 24

Aversion therapy uses it, it is imagined aversive stimuli

Question 25

What is massed negative practice

Answer 25

Punishment procedure that requires the person to repeat the undesired target beh for a predetermined time period contingent on the occurrence of the target beh

Question 26

Example of massed negative practice

Answer 26

After vocal tic, person force himself to make vocal tics for 2 mins

Question 27

Beh treatments of obesity include

Answer 27

Goal-setting
Peer support
Physical activity
Self-monitoring
Nutrition education
Cognitive therapy