Reforçadores Generalizados e o Comportamento Depressivo em Contexto Clínico

Abstract

The objective of this research was to study the behavior of those who get depressed in a therapeutic context, where behavior approach was used starting from the presumption of the Applied Analysis of the Behavior, with emphasis on the Psychological Behaviorism by Arthur Wilbur Staats among others. Two people from the feminine gender with diagnoses of depression took part in this study and both of them were selected following pre-established criteria by the researcher between May 16th and September 08th, 2003, with a break of thirty days between the INT-II and INT-III. These sessions took place in an office at a private clinic of psychological treatment in Goiânia. Besides the video camera, which had a photographic camera and video, VHS tape, color TV, computer (PC) and printer, were also used and authorization signed by both participants on the procedures adopted in each session, Questionnaire of Vital History (Lázarus, 1980), sheet of auto evaluation of the emotional state, which used to be filled in through verbal answer of the participants at the beginning and at the end of each session, Depression Inventory Beck (BDI), which specifically measures the intensity of depression, with written answers of the participants and the behavior changes record, applied in two phases of the outline (LB-I e INT-III), by a member of the family, with the objective of recording the behavior changes shown by the participants, during and after the intervention. For the development of the adopted procedure, the Outline of Reversion in the format ABAB-B was used, considering that in interventions I, II and III the Generalized Conditional Reinforcement was used when the researcher was reinforcing the positive verbal account with an Approval Sing contingent upon positive verbalized ideas and a Disapproval Sign contingent upon negative verbalized ideas of each participant for all emotional positive and negative speech in each session. The procedure for the typescripts of the shot sessions consisted in the observation and record of all positive speech of the participants during the forty eight sessions, being twenty four of each participant. In the same way was proceeded the enumeration of the negative speech. At the end of the research, according to the graphics and tables it is possible to note that there was a reduction on the intensity of negative verbal emotional repertoire, common in depressed people, having as a primordial element the use of Generalized Conditional Reinforcement in the depressive behavior change in a clinic context.