Both depression and any of the conditions or disorders related to it have been a major field of research from the point of view of psychological treatment. Throughout the history of psychology, researchers have struggled to develop an effective therapy that would relieve the symptoms of depression in the shortest time possible.

One of these recently performed treatments is Behavioral Activation . This therapy is based on the idea that modifying the patient’s behaviour will have a positive effect on their mood.

What is Behavioral Activation?

Behavioral Activation (BA) is a relatively new therapy, with little more than 30 years of history behind it, that treats depression functionally and from the person’s context.

According to the creators of this type of intervention, Behavioral Activation relies on the context of the person to explain his or her symptoms . Thus, the therapy argues that acting on this context is much more effective than acting on the symptoms or internal factors, such as neurobiological disorders or psychological symptomatology.

In addition, Behavioral Activation establishes that the behaviors carried out by people with depression are more than simple symptoms of the clinical picture, and that these have a very important significance within the disorder.

How did he show up?

Behavioral Activation originated from the behavioral techniques carried out within Aaron Beck’s Cognitive Therapy.

The initial idea was to make a comparison between the behavioural part of the traditional intervention, the behavioural intervention together with the cognitive one and the integrative therapy. After making this comparison, the results showed that only by carrying out a behavioural modification in the patient, he or she showed the same level of improvement as with the full intervention.

Therefore, it was concluded that modifications or cognitive intervention techniques were not so necessary in the treatment of depression , assuming only a burden for the treatment. After these conclusions, it was proposed to consider the purely behavioural intervention as a therapy independent from the traditional cognitive therapy, becoming what is known today as Behavioural Activation.

It is necessary to specify that even though Behavioral Activation does not work on the person’s cognition, it is not ignored. Rather, it is expected to change as a result of behavior modification.

Principles of Behavioral Activation

There are two aspects to consider when starting an intervention through Behavioral Activation:

  • The context or situation that triggers the behavior.
  • The functionality or effects have this behavior on the person.

In this way, Behavioral Activation evaluates and analyzes both the events that appear in the patient’s life, and the behavioral responses that the patient gives to these situations.

Regarding the person’s responses, one of the basic principles of Behavioral Activation is that the person with depression carries out a series of avoidance behaviors as a result of the lack of positive reinforcement and the predominance of unstimulating situations. This tendency to avoid can be manifested by interrupting daily tasks and activities, by ruminative thoughts or by the interactions that the person maintains or not with the rest of the people.

How is it carried out as a psychological intervention?

Taking into account the principle of behavioral avoidance, Behavioral Activation Therapy aims to restore the behavioral dynamics of the person prior to depression .

The first step in achieving this is to activate the person, hence the name of the therapy, even if the person is depressed. Through this, Behavioral Activation aims to systematically increase the number of positive behaviors carried out by the person with the intention that they find a greater number of reinforcers that promote a change in the person at the level of behavior, cognition and mood.

However, Behavioral Activation does not try to increase the number of behaviors of the person, whatever their nature, but rather a functional behavior analysis must be performed in order to detect those significant and functional behaviors which must be enhanced.

Therefore, Behavioral Activation is a therapy that develops and adapts to the singularities of the patient.

Finally, the dynamic of therapy is not to modify cognition and mood so that the person changes his behavior, but to act in spite of the mood. This specific point is closely associated with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, in which the person must first accept his or her current condition in order to act and be able to change it.

Advantages of this type of psychotherapy

Proponents of Behavioral Activation Therapy rely on a number of advantages or benefits that it provides compared to other therapies such as pharmacological or cognitive.

These advantages are as follows.

1. De-medicalization

Behavioral Activation is presented as an effective and fast alternative to pharmacological treatment for depression , being as effective as this and without causing undesired side effects.

Therefore, this discourse in favour of de-medicalisation has managed to gain many followers.

2. Alternative to cognitive therapy

As an alternative to cognitive therapy, Behavioral Activation has proven to be much more effective and with much faster results . Since the modification of thoughts and beliefs requires a larger investment of time.

3. Speed of results

Thanks to the adjustment of the therapy to the needs of the patient and the structuring of this, Behavioral Activation is a therapy that requires few sessions, about 15 , which means a speed of results and an economic advantage compared to other forms of psychological intervention.