What are third generation therapies?

It is estimated that, throughout her life, one in four people will suffer from some type of mental disorder, the most frequent being those related to anxiety Yet the depression. The treatment of these problems and disorders can be approached in multiple ways from psychology, one of the most common being the use of behavior modification techniques.

Within these techniques, the use of third-generation therapies is increasingly common, which modify behavior while working aspects such as the patient's relationship with the problem and the context in which the aforementioned lives.

• Related article: "Types of psychological therapies"

Behavior modification therapies

When we talk about third generation therapies we are talking about one of the most recent types of behavior therapy, developed taking into account the limitations of its predecessors. To understand what they are, it is first necessary to remember what a technique or behavior therapy is

The person with a mental disorder often experiences profound discomfort as a result of the performance or the effects of performing patterns of behavior and behavior. thinking that does not serve him efficiently to explain or interact with the world, resulting in maladaptive behavior and being limited in work and / or thought.

Behavioral or behavior modification techniques are based on the idea that it is possible to modify a person's behavioral and cognitive patterns through the application of different techniques based on learning. Although the past is taken into account when analyzing how the current situation has been reached, the work to be carried out focuses on the current problems and symptoms and how to change them.

The modification of said patterns or the acquisition of others will allow the subject to may have a more adaptive behavior, fighting and coping with symptoms of his problem in a more or less direct way and allowing the relief of the subject's suffering and the optimization of his abilities and functionality as a human being.

• Related article: Behavioral Therapies: first, second and third wave

What are third generation therapies?

Third generation therapies or the third wave of behavioral therapies are that set of therapies and treatments created with the purpose of performing a modification of the patient's behavior but from a global approach and close to the person rather than the problem, taking into account the patient's experience of his problem and how the social and cultural context have caused his behavior to be poorly adaptive.

Unlike other behavior modification techniques, third generation therapies are based on the power of context and dialogue to achieve said modification through the acceptance of the problem by both the patient and the therapist.

His objectives

The main objective of this type of therapy goes through changing the way of perceiving the problem by the treated individual, without attempting extreme control or extirpating their behaviors as if they were something to be ashamed of but rather helping them to observe and rethink the relationship between said behaviors and the functionality that has been given to them, as well as the link itself with its usual operation, modifying them from acceptance.

In other words, the need arises to see treatment not as a fight against symptoms, but as a vital reorientation that allows generating significant, real and permanent changes.

Third generation therapies make up for some of the shortcomings of their predecessors, such as the lack of focus on the specific aspects of the treatment that produce improvement, the provocation of rigid behaviors that in turn Sometimes they can be little adaptive and little attention paid to the patient's usual communicative context, as well as to the perception of his suffering.

• You may be interested: "Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: what is it and on what principles is it based?"

Some relevant aspects of these therapies

Third generation therapies have a number of characteristics of great interest in the treatment of psychological problems.

First, they consider that an individual's behavior is not fully explicable if its context is not taken into account. If the treatment is reduced to treating some symptoms directly without taking into account the variables that make the behavior something useful or necessary for the patient, generalization of the treatment to real life will be difficult for the individual in treatment.

Another aspect to consider is that third generation therapies take into account the modulating influence of language, the fact that what other people tell us and what feedback they give us regarding our behavior will make us see the behaviors carried out in one way or another.

The therapeutic relationship

Linked to the previous point, it is noteworthy that third generation therapies give a fundamental role to the therapeutic relationship.

Although this is common to all or almost all types of existing psychological therapy, in the case of third-generation therapies, this relationship is seen as an element or instrument of change per se, when a communicative and social interaction occurs that can modify behavior directly or hint. Other types of therapy, although they consider the therapeutic relationship fundamental, see it more as the means by which the patient applies the techniques and not as something that itself produces a modification.

Beyond the symptoms

Finally, and as it has been possible to glimpse previously, treatment from third generation therapies involves working with deep aspects of the person, going beyond the presence of symptoms to act on subjectivity and personal perception so that it is possible to act on aspects such as life goals, self-perception or feelings and emotions provoked both by the problem situations and by other vital circumstances that may have led to the disorder.

Three third generation therapies

Although they are not the only ones (there are also others such as cognitive therapy based on Mindfulness, activation therapy behavioral or integrated behavior therapy for couples), three examples of third-party therapies are briefly explained below. generation.

Functional Analytical Therapy

This therapy focuses on functional analysis of behavioral patterns, exploring not only the problem behavior but also the purpose of the behavior and that other behaviors are carried out with the same purpose and making special emphasis on the therapeutic relationship and verbal communication, while taking into account that behavior is determined by a large number of variables.

Is about help the client identify clinically relevant behaviors, help analyze what is behind, provoke said behaviors and adaptive alternatives, genuinely reinforce those that imply an improvement and help to explain and interpret the behavior so that it can be applied to other contexts vital.

Acceptance and commitment therapy

This technique is one of the best known within third generation therapies, its main objective being to help the patient patient to self-discover the patient's core values ​​and help him or her accept the pain of seeking a life happy. It mainly focuses on work on values ​​without avoiding or pathologizing suffering.

Through self-acceptance, the observation of what we think and what beliefs these thoughts provoke us and the focus on what is current, it seeks to guide that the patient gets involved and commits to following their own values ​​regardless of what society dictates, living as one believes one should live.

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy

Another of the best known therapies within the third generation, dialectical behavioral therapy has been designed in order to help patients with serious emotional problems that induce self-destructive behaviors, such as self-mutilation or suicide attempts.

Currently one of the therapies of choice when treating Borderline personality disorder, is based on the acceptance and validation of the suffering of the patient to work dialectically and through various modules the control and management of extreme and unstable emotions. The patient is helped to trust her emotions and thoughts and is helped to find factors that push you to want to move on and to improve their skills regarding emotional self-regulation, tolerance to discomfort, self-observation and management of interpersonal relationships.

Bibliographic references:

• Almendro, M.T. (2012). Psychotherapies. CEDE PIR Preparation Manual, 06. CEDE: Madrid.

• Hayes, S.C. (2004). Acceptance and commitment therapy, relational frame theory, and the third wave of behavioral and cognitive therapies. Behavior therapy, 35, 639-665.

• Mañas, I. (s.f.). New psychological therapies: The third wave of behavior therapies or third generation therapies. Gazette of Psychology, 40; 26-34. University of Almería.