It is rarely, if ever, that this separation of problems is that pure . In reality, current problems are superimposed on old and chronic problems which the patient has carried for an extended period. The skilled doctor is able to see the impact of the past upon the response to present stressors. An initial means of conceiving of psychotherapy is understanding that it is a means of creating a professional atmosphere in which old feelings and fantasies can be brought to the surface so that they may be studied, understood and resolved. Psychotherapist believe that the unconscious motives along with unresolved conflicts lead to maladapted behavior.
Sexual impulses return.
Inadequate resolution of any of these stages lead to flawed personality development. Behavior therapy is a combination of the systematic application of principles of learning theory to to the analysis and treatment of behavior. It involves more than principles of learning and conditioning, however, and uses the empirical findings of social and experimental psychology. The emphasis is placed upon the observable and confrontable and not inferred mental states or constructs. The early development of behavior therapies occurred in the 1960s and 1970s and at that time, this mode of psychological care was defined as the systematic application of learning theory to the analysis and treatment of behavioral disorders.