Written By
GCE Editorial Team
Behavioral science is the study of how a person’s daily choices and behaviors affect their mental and physical health. Behavioral health professionals can help individuals adopt healthier habits.
Speak with a University Counselor today.
Approved and verified accurate by the Assistant Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences on Oct. 27, 2025.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Grand Canyon University. Any sources cited were accurate as of the publish date.
A behavioral health science degree may lead you to pursue an entry-level behavioral health career, such as psychiatric technician or psychiatric aide. You might later decide to further your career qualifications by pursuing graduate-level education in behavioral health.
Psychiatric technicians help care for people living with mental health disorders or developmental disabilities. They work in a supportive role, monitoring patients and providing basic therapeutic care. Compassion, patience, interpersonal skills and observational skills are very helpful for this profession.3
Some of the job responsibilities of a psychiatric technician may include:
Some of the most common work environments for psychiatric technicians include:4
Psychiatric aides are similar to psychiatric technicians, but not quite the same. Whereas psychiatric technicians can provide basic therapeutic care to patients, psychiatric aides focus on assisting them with ADLs.
Some of the overlapping responsibilities include:
Other job responsibilities of psychiatric aides that do not overlap with those of psychiatric technicians include the following:
While both technicians and aides can help patients with ADLs, such as eating and bathing, those types of tasks typically comprise a more significant amount of an aide's time on the job.
Psychiatric aides can benefit from having the same types of skills and characteristics as psychiatric technicians, including compassion and patience.3 They also work in the same types of environments, such as inpatient and outpatient treatment facilities and hospitals.4
Every day, you make choices that directly impact your physical and mental health. These choices include what you eat for breakfast (e.g., healthy oatmeal vs. sugary pancakes), whether you take time to exercise and how you cope with stress. Your habits, lifestyle, social interactions, coping strategies and even your cultural practices can all play a role in your overall health.
All these factors matter for behavioral health science. Social, environmental, lifestyle and cultural factors influence physical and mental well-being, as do daily choices. That is what behavioral health science boils down to — the patterns of behavior a person follows that influence their physical and mental health.1
For example, a person who copes with stress in an unhealthy manner might make poor dietary choices, raising their risk of weight gain, heart disease and more. Someone who has trouble coming to terms with trauma might turn to substance abuse. Similarly, a person who is having difficulty coping with a death in the family or a divorce might develop hoarding behaviors.
Behavioral health professionals work closely with clients to help them adapt to healthier behavioral choices and patterns that support better physical and mental health. These professionals might work with clients facing a wide variety of issues, from substance use and suicide ideation to depression and chronic stress.
At Grand Canyon University, you can choose from a variety of degrees in the behavioral health field. Behavioral health science degree examples include the behavioral health science degree without an emphasis. Alternatively, you could choose from specializations in adolescence and childhood disorders or family dynamics.
The adolescence and childhood disorders emphasis focuses on topics like lifespan development and disorders that commonly affect young people, such as ADHD, conduct disorders and language and learning disabilities. The family dynamics emphasis also explores human development, but focuses on the whole family, including marital issues.
Some of the course topics you will examine while earning a behavioral health science degree at GCU can include:
Support Patients in Behavioral Health Science
Examine principles, practices and methodologies in the behavioral health science field. Apply online at GCU!
Behavioral science acknowledges that human behavior affects health, and it strives to develop a greater understanding of the environmental, social, cognitive and other factors that can influence health-related behaviors. Behavioral health science seeks to understand and improve mental health, lifestyle, interpersonal relationships and behavioral patterns.1
If you’re fascinated by behavioral science’s meaning and how behavioral health therapies can help people get through tough times, you might be interested in majoring in behavioral health science. First, take a closer look at behavioral health and how it differs from other mental health fields. Then, consider some behavioral science degree examples as well as the typical courses you might expect to take, and dive into some career paths you might want to pursue.
Grand Canyon University’s mission is to help our students find a purpose that aligns with their passion. We strive to graduate caring, empathetic and work-ready individuals who aim to make a positive difference in their communities. In the behavioral health science field, you could empower and uplift patients in need of a comforting touch.
GCU invites you to explore our range of behavioral health science programs, such as the Bachelor of Science in Behavioral Health Science degree, Bachelor of Science in Behavioral Health Science with an Emphasis in Childhood and Adolescence Disorders degree and the Bachelor of Science in Behavioral Health Science with an Emphasis in Family Dynamics program. No matter which program you choose, you’ll work through a modern curriculum infused with Christian principles.
Behavioral health and mental health are quite similar. Both study psychological issues, behavioral patterns and the many factors that influence a person’s overall well-being. While the terms might sometimes be used interchangeably, and although there is quite a bit of overlap, the two fields aren’t quite the same.
Mental health explores how your psychological issues influence your well-being. In other words, it considers how your emotions, perceptions and thoughts affect your psychological state, along with your personality, identity, empathy, morality, resilience, cognitive function and mental health disorders. Mental health also acknowledges that a person’s psychological state (including whether that person has any mental health disorders) can influence their behaviors.2
In contrast, behavioral health, while closely intertwined with mental health, focuses more on how a person’s daily choices and behavioral patterns can influence both mental well-being and physical health.
Whereas mental health puts a laser focus on mental health disorders, behavioral health explores factors such as:2
In other words, behavioral health doesn’t limit itself to mental health issues. Rather, it’s a more holistic approach to health that might focus just as much on a person’s sleep hygiene as their reactions to adversity.
A behavioral health professional might work with clients on any of the following:
