What is the purpose of establishing antecedent operations in behavior therapy?

To control behavior by changing something that precedes it

Once the faulty behaviors causing distress are identified, a treatment plan is selected. The goal of the treatment is to extinguish or eliminate the faulty behaviors and replace them with adaptive behavior patterns. The therapist achieves this by employing antecedent operations and consequent operations. Antecedent operations involve changing something that precedes a behavior to control that behavior. This change can involve increasing or decreasing the reinforcing value of a particular consequence, which is known as an establishing operation.