This counseling method is a type of psychotherapy or talk therapy. The goal of talk sessions is to modify dysfunctional thoughts, behaviors, and emotions to boost happiness. The counseling sessions are different from psychoanalysis, which focuses mainly on childhood wounds that cause problems in adulthood. Instead, behavior therapies focus on encouraging patients to challenge their distorted thoughts and change destructive behaviors.

Behavior therapies work on the premise that all negative actions result from negative thoughts. A negative way of thinking makes people develop bad habits, including addiction. Most behavior therapists don’t believe external factors such as events or people cause behaviors.

However, there’s a benefit to believing that all bad behaviors result from people’s thoughts and feelings. It means that people have the ability to change their feelings or actions in certain situations regardless of outside influences.