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Table 1 Definitions of behavioral management of obesity techniques

From: Obesity: Prevalence, Theories, Medical Consequences, Management, and Research Directions

TREATMENT

DEFINITION

Behavioral modification

Behavioral management techniques such as self-monitoring, stimulus control, eating management, rewarding behavior, etc.

Multimodel Approach

Approach that involves 6 steps. The first step is self-monitoring followed by control over eating, adding exercise, controlling self-talk, involving social support, and relapse prevention.

Psychotherapy

Traditional psychotherapy techniques such as humanistic therapy, or psychodynamic therapy which addresses unconscious motives. For example, an individual may unconsciously overeat to emotionally insulate themselves.

Cognitive-behavior therapy

Cognitive approaches such as rational emotive behavior therapy or cognitive-behavior therapy. Therapy is a collaborative process of empirical investigation, reality testing, and problem solving and focuses on the beliefs that people hold of their health habits. An example is controlling self-talk.

Pavlovian Conditioning or Classical Conditioning

Behavior patterns involve the association between unconscious reflexes with new stimuli that can be transferred to a conditioned response.

Operant Conditioning

Technique that pairs a voluntary behavior with systematic consequences. Reinforcement should occur when positive behavior occurs. Intermittent reinforcement schedules are more resistant to extinction. An example would be to reinforce participants in a research study when they come in for testing.

Self-monitoring

The participant monitors their own behavior or activities. This can include food and activity logs.

Stimulus control

Strategies designed to alter cues leading to inappropriate eating, such as eating while watching television.

Eating management

Techniques specifically aimed at modifying the act of eating, such as eating slowly and drinking water before meals.

Lifestyle exercise

Increased daily lifestyle activity such as taking stairs instead of elevators, walking to the store instead of driving, etc.

Self-efficacy

A person's belief that he or she has the behavioral skills to cope successfully with high-risk situations.