Three typical areas of application of behavioural medicine are described: biofeedback, relaxation training, and various cognitive behavioural procedures. It is argued that biofeedback has led to few useful clinical treatments but both relaxation and more complex procedures and methods of analysis can contribute to the prevention and treatment of disease. This is illustrated with examples from the literature on headache and the prevention and treatment of coronary heart disease and cancer.

“Of all the contributions made by psychologists to the education and training of the mentally retarded in recent years, pride of place must surely be accorded to behaviour modification” (Clarke and Clarke, 1987). This is a significant claim and one that may be disputed by those who work in other areas (as indeed do the Clarkes themselves) but there is little doubt that behavioural methods have made a major contribution to the teaching and management of people with learning difficulties. This paper will divide the, necessarily selective, review of recent research into two main areas: first, that concerned with skill development and second, that concerned with behaviour reduction and the management of what has become known as Challenging Behaviour.

Behavioural therapists have been involved with the management of schizophrenia since the emergence of the discipline in the 1950s. It has been stated recently that behaviour therapists have lost interest in serious mental illness. However, in the last few years great advances have been made in behavioural approaches to the management of schizophrenia. Controlled trials of family management methods have indicated that: relapse rates can be reduced, the patient's social functioning increased and family burden decreased. These approaches also have economic benefits over traditional services. Furthermore, other methods, such as early signs monitoring followed by early intervention and self-management of drug resistant residual symptoms, have also shown promise. The development of these innovative behavioural approaches is especially important in an era of community based mental health services.

The introduction of sex therapy two decades ago was accompanied by largely uncritical enthusiasm, with the result that too few careful evaluative studies were conducted. Those that were indicated that a weekly or twice weekly schedule of treatment sessions was best and that treatment by individual therapists was as effective as co-therapy. Some of the major prognostic factors and the long-term results of sex therapy have now been elucidated. Low sexual desire has emerged as a problem for which our now traditional methods of treatment are often inadequate and new therapeutic approaches are required. Current efforts to explore the beliefs and cognitive processes associated with erectile dysfunction are proving rewarding and are likely to enrich therapeutic interventions in the future. Attention should now be paid to the beliefs and cognitions associated with other sexual dysfunctions, both male and female.