Behavioral interventions include operant conditioning and desensitization techniques. Operant conditioning can be useful in working with children because it rewards them for their positive behaviors instead of "punishing" them for inappropriate ones.

Desensitization can help with patients who fear flying, for example. It involves acclimating them to the various steps they must take to enter a plane and take off. It may start with repetitious assignments to drive to the airport. The next steps may include assignments to enter the airport and subsequently to actually enter a plane (without it taking off); then taxiing on the ground (only), and finally a short trip in the air.

There is also an effective behavioral treatment for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. It extinguishes the obsessions and rituals by helping the patient tolerate the anxiety that initiates them.

For example a young girl avoids walking on cracks in the sidewalk. She is directed to walk on cracks purposely and monitor the decrease in her anxious feelings. As her anxiety is extinguished, so does the need to practice her obsessional behaviors. Typical OCD symptoms include recurring ideas, unnecessary checking and frequent handwashing.