Relaxing Your
Fears Away
Claire Bliss
Dee Luo
Background
• A rat, when it sees a picture of a cat, gets
scared. However, using classical conditioning,
the fear of the cat can be diminished if the rat
is given food.
• Joseph Wolpe noticed this reciprocal inhibition
and came up with the theory of systematic
desensitization.
Methods
• Wolpe performed systematic desensitization
on 39 cases, randomly chosen out of 150
cases.
• 3 Steps
– Relaxation training
– Construction of anxiety hierarchy
– Desensitization
Results
• Out of the 68 phobias treated in 39 cases, 62
(91%) were judged to be completely or
partially successful.
• The remaining 6 (9%) were unsuccessful.
• The average number of sessions needed for
successful treatment was 12.3.
Criticisms
• Psychoanalysts said Wolpe’s methods did not
treat the underlying cause of the phobias,
only the symptoms. (Leaking dike)
• Wolpe responded by showing that 25 out of
the 35 cured did not relapse into phobias.
How dare you
question my
findings?!
Conclusion
• Wolpe’s method of systematic desensitization
is now the most prominent method to cure
phobias.
• Systematic desensitization is effective for long
periods of time. (college students suffering
from fear of public speaking).
Build your own