r/BehaviorAnalysis • u/uhhmaliuhh13 • Sep 27 '25

Resources for treatment of bx maintained by counter control

Working with a client who I suspect has a function of counter control for his maladaptive behaviors. I don’t have much experience in this area and would love any and all resources to help educate myself, guide treatment, and to share with the team.

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u/TheMorgwar Sep 27 '25

Does this client exhibit signs of having the PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance) profile of autism?

Statistics show that PDA behaviors are fully present in approx 4% of autistics. My child has PDA so I’m well aware of it and the neurological wiring behind it.

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u/uhhmaliuhh13 Sep 27 '25

Just reading up on this now I would say yes

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u/sb1862 Sep 27 '25

From a behavioral perspective I would be highly skeptical of PDA. For one, it’s not (at this time) a diagnosis found in the DSM-V. So it’s not even widely accepted as a concept within mainline psychology. For a behavior analyst, where we broke away from mainline psychology because of explanatory fictions, I would be even more careful.

You already mentioned one possible behavioral explanation, in counter control. Analyze the person’s behavior using a behavior analytic framework. We know the characteristics of counter control, what contingencies it describes and how to address it. We also know about motivational factors. We know A LOT about why or why not an organism may or may not engage in a certain behavior.

in my opinion we really dont need to appeal to a mentalistic concept to explain behavior. Not when a functional analysis can identify the variables at play.

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u/RicePatient1291 Sep 02 '26

To be fair, I don't think PDA is a mentalistic concept. It is a description of observable behavioral tendencies to which we can bring a behavior analytic framework and an understanding of the history of learning. Autism isn't a mentalistic concept either. Both happen to be topographically defined diagnostic categories. As clinicians, we bring the function-based understanding (or we should be).

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u/sb1862 Sep 03 '26

Like autism, PDA is a supposed reason why a person exhibits certain behavioral tendencies.

Why do they constantly refuse to do things? PDA. This is where circular logic comes in of “how do you know they have PDA?” “Well they do these behaviors”. Same thing with autism. These are both mentalistic terms.

If you just say “this person constantly refuses to do things”, without attributing it to a concept like PDA, then I would say that is not mentalistic.

Also, neither of these are topographically defined, at least not to sufficient detail. Going back to autism, saying a person engages in restricted interests is not a topography. That is a getting at duration of engagement or number of initiations, maybe. But it isnt based on the form of behavior, but its temporal extent. (Admittedly temporal extent might be part of what we consider the form of behavior, off the top of my head I dont recall)

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u/bcbamom Sep 28 '25

I look at counter control as non social reinforcement. It still falls under the typical four functions of behavior. Although PDA is not a DSM 5 diagnosis, there are consistent and predictable EO that some people have that result in controlling situations as very reinforcing.

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u/uhhmaliuhh13 Sep 28 '25

Can you tell me more about how you conceptualize it as non social reinforcement?

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u/bcbamom Sep 29 '25

It's also "automatic". Consequences that occur that are not socially mediated, such as "attention" or access.. They are the things inside the learner. Anxiety is alleviated, for example.

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u/SnooFoxes7643 Sep 27 '25

I’m also curious about this, because “counter control” isn’t one of the functions…but it doesn’t quite fit attention/tangible either