Aversion Therapy

Aversion therapy is a type of treatment used to cure various conditions.  It is often utilised for negative habits, addictions, obsessions, and violent behaviours.  Although not the most used form of psychological treatment, it is based on very sound, scientific principles.  Its goal is to create an aversion, or negative association, with a particular action.  By doing this repeatedly, the hope is that the patient will now have a negative feeling, instead of a positive one, when engaging in the unwanted behaviour or thinking an unwanted thought.  Once this link has been made, the patient is then less likely to want to perform the actions or think the thoughts that are not in their best interest.

Aversion therapy uses a behavioural model rather than a cognitive one.  In doing so, it aims to correct a person’s self-defeating or harming actions instead of needing to figure out and focus on what the underlying motivation is for the person doing it.  People can often spend countless years undergoing traditional talk therapy in order to correct a problem.  However, even if one is able to pinpoint the reason for their particular condition, it still might not serve as enough of a motivation to stop self-defeating habits.  For this reason, using behavioural techniques to create an aversion to a particular habit or thought can sometimes be a more effective form of treatment.

In addition to possibly being more successful, aversion therapy also tends to be much quicker than traditional methods.  Again, the reason for this is that talk therapy can take a very long time to uncover the real reason why someone is engaging in self-defeating behaviours.  Often, the true motivations are not accurately uncovered, due to various reasons, such as denial and projection.  These defence mechanisms can sometimes complicate treatment to the point where it is not able to be successful.  Luckily, by creating an aversion, these factors do not need to derail therapy.

Just as we can form positive associations to certain thoughts and activities, making us want to do them again and again, the opposite idea holds true for negative associations.  Creating an aversion will make us feel negatively when thinking or doing certain things, thus making us less likely do them.  When traditional forms of treatment have failed, or are simply taking too long, aversion therapy can be a good alternative.  It is a straightforward way to put you on the path to success.

Tom Smith common name, uncommon therapy