ABSTRACT
Behavioral experiments are the most important strategies for promoting change in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and are especially used to challenge and change underlying assumptions (UAs). Such experiments provide the essential elements for connection between knowledge resulting from the rational mind and the emotional mind. The Color-Coded Symptoms Hierarchy (CCSH) is a strategy that was designed to help patients increase their chances of accomplishing behavioral experiments, by maintaining a hierarchy of symptoms that they should be exposed to in order to reach symptom remission. Windy Dryden discusses a principle he calls "challenging but not overwhelming" as a substitute for the "gradualism" proposed by Wolpe J. and "full exposure" proposed by Albert Ellis. In this case, the CCSH approach was proposed to organize and facilitate exposure to feared and unpleasant actions and situations, preparing the patient to go further towards the use of a decision-making technique called consensual role-play (CRP).
