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Systematic desensitization or graded exposure is a behavioral intervention commonly used in the treatment of phobias and other anxiety-related disorders. Individuals with phobias tend to possess irrational fears of stimuli such as heights, close spaces, dogs, and snakes. In order to cope, the individual avoids such stimuli. Since escaping from the phobic object reduces anxiety temporarily, the individual’s behavior to reduce the perceived fear is negatively reinforced. The aim of systematic desensitization is to overcome this avoidance by gradually exposing individuals to the phobic stimulus until their anxiety to the fear is extinguished (Sturmey 2008).
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Joseph Wolpe (1915–1997)
Joseph Wolpe was a South African-born American doctor. During his work as a medical officer, Wolpe’s task was to treat soldiers who were diagnosed with “war neurosis” which is now referred to as post-traumatic stress disorder. It was argued at...
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References and Further Reading
Clark, D. F. (1963). The treatment of monosymptomatic phobia by systematic desensitization. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 1(1), 63–68.
Obler, M. (1973). Systematic desensitization in sexual disorders. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 4(2), 93–101.
Schindler, F. E. (1980). Treatment by systematic desensitization of a recurring nightmare of a real life trauma. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 11(1), 53–54.
Sturmey, P. (2008). Behavioral case formulation and intervention: A functional analytic approach. Chichester: Wiley.
Wolpe, J. (1961). The systematic desensitization treatment of neuroses. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 132(3), 189–203.
Wolpe, J. (1973). The practice of behavior therapy (2nd ed.). New York: Pergamon Press.
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Kessedjian, A., Mir, F. (2020). Systematic Desensitization. In: Gellman, M.D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39903-0_1525
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39903-0_1525
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