The Practice of Behavior Therapy.

Abstract

In 1958, Joseph Wolpe published Psychotherapy by Reciprocal Inhibition , and in it he presented three specific procedures for the treatment of three types of neuroses: (1) desensitization for phobias; (2) assertive training for problems involving self-assertion; and (3) sexual training for sexual inhibitions. 1 In addition to these clinical procedures, the book contained some reports from the animal laboratory plus a good deal of Wolpe's own theory regarding the etiology and treatment of neuroses in terms of a concept he still refers to as reciprocal inhibition, amounting to something of a cross between the neurophysiological principles described by Sherrington and the psychological theory proposed by Hull. In 1966, he published a second book in collaboration with Lazarus, in which they spared the reader much of Wolpe's theorizing and confined themselves more to the clinical applications of his techniques. 2 They also added a brief two-page section on aversion therapy.