Humanistic behaviorism: a model for rapprochement in residential treatment milieus

In the operational policies and treatment methodologies employed by most residential treatment milieus, contrasting theoretical and methodological approaches enjoy an uneasy coexistence. The medical model with its emphasis on treatment planning growing naturally from categorical diagnostic thinking is contrasted with the applied behavior analysis model with its proliferation of token economies, point systems, and behavior contracting. Judgmental errors flow naturally from the exclusive reliance on either model. Humanistic behaviorism provides a theoretical rapprochement by proposing that approaches growing from each model can be complementary.