How is behavior therapy different than psychoanalysis? Behavior therapy involves free association and dream analysis, while psychoanalysis focuses on the use of classical conditioning to change patterns of thinking. In psychoanalysis, a therapist employs principles of learning to help clients change undesirable behaviors, while behavior therapy involves digging deeply into one's unconscious. O Psychoanalysis involves using free association to work through repressed desires, while behavior therapy focuses on how undesirable behaviors are predicted unconsciously, in our dreams. In behavior therapy, a therapist employs principles of learning to help clients change undesirable behaviors, while psychoanalysis involves digging deeply into one's unconscious.