Core intervention: Behavioural experiment

What is a behavioural experiment?

The behavioural experiment is a therapeutic intervention in which you explore unhelpful thoughts and expectations. Its aim is to develop a more realistic and helpful perspective on situations. Setting up a behavioural experiment involves several steps: identifying the unhelpful thought, formulating a helpful thought, determining appropriate behaviour, making a prediction, and establishing a practice situation.

Why using a behavioural experiment?

Behavioural experiments help your client to find evidence in practice for a helpful thought, thereby challenging and undermining beliefs or expectations. This can also be done using cognitive restructuring, but often the saying goes: seeing is believing. It is necessary to experience the helpful thought in practice in order to challenge or validate certain expectations. Therefore, a behavioural experiment is intended to test cognitions, ideas, predictions, and expectations in reality.

Difference with exposure

A behavioural experiment bears many similarities to exposure therapy. However, in exposure therapy, the primary goal is for the situations that are avoided due to fear to no longer be avoided. The main objective of a behavioural experiment, on the other hand, is to investigate whether negative thoughts or expectations are accurate, using a test situation. Therefore, a behavioural experiment can take place without intentionally triggering anxiety or fear.

In certain cases, a behavioural experiment may resemble an exposure task, but the theoretical foundation behind them is different.

• Behavioural experiments are aimed at gathering information and debunking frightening interpretations or beliefs.
• Exposure  is focused on exposing the client to a fear-inducing situation, so that they can observe that their anxiety decreases even when they do not escape or avoid it. Cognitive changes are also necessary for successful exposure.

What are triggers for a behavioural experiment?
 

• Not-helpful thoughts that have been challenged using cognitive techniques can be tested in practice through an experiment. For example, "If I go to the supermarket without a shopping list, I won't be able to handle the stress and I'll go crazy."
• Exploring expectations through an observational experiment to debunk a non-helpful assumption. 
  For example, "Everyone in the supermarket is staring at me" or "My boss gets angry if I say no once."
• Seeking out an embarrassing situation to examine how it feels and how one responds to it. For example, "Yelling in the supermarket."
• Engaging in challenging situations and reducing avoidance.
   

💡 Tips & tricks for a behavioural experiment

It is important to engage in a diversity of experiments. By conducting more of these experiments, your client gains new experiences that gradually decrease the credibility of their thoughts. Ensure that a behavioural experiment is testable, achievable, and realistic. An experiment can never "fail," even if the unhelpful thought proves true or if the client experiences significant tension. This situation always yields new information that you can discuss together and potentially re-challenge with a new experiment.

Sources:

1. ten Broeke, E., & van der Heiden, C. (2008). Cognitieve therapie: de basisvaardigheden. (2de ed.). Boom.
2. Keijsers, G. P. J., Van Minnen, A., Verbraak, M., Hoogduin, C. A. L. & Emmelkamp, P., (2017). Protocollaire behandelingen voor volwassenen met psychische klachten. Boom.
3. https://pratenendoen.nl/behandeling/cognitieve-therapie/484-2/gedragsexperimenten/ 
4. https://www.directievetherapie.nl/artikelen/jaargang17/gedragsexperimenten-binnen-de-cognitieve-therapie-17-1-13/