Discussion

There are three ways of conceptualizing behavior therapy. One is as a technology or a series of techniques for changing behaviors. The second is as a methodological approach to the therapeutic situation, and the third is as a way of seeing patients.

Apolito stresses the first approach, the technology conceptualization. Although he mistakenly limits this technology to the conditioned reflex (a point I shall discuss later), he does raise important questions about the application of this technology. These questions arise from his recognition of the effectiveness of these techniques for modifying maladaptive behavior, a recognition supported by ever increasing evidence.

Based on the fact of its relative effectiveness, Apolito moves beyond the psychotherapeutic field and points out that these techniques can be used for evil or for good in society in general. He raises the question of the potential misuse of the technology, and it is indeed an important question. Within the therapeutic confines, we can depend to a great extent upon the ethical code of the practitioner to use these techniques to the best interests of his patient. But how can we keep these very same techniques from being used to “brainwash” the public for some nefarious end?

This is not a new question. It must be faced every time we have a major scientific or technological advance. In our own lifetime, for example, we have been forced to raise this question about atomic energy, about space, about computers, and about a number of other issues. It has also been raised in the behavioral field, as it was when psychoanalytic conceptions were used in motivational research to sell products to consumers and candidates to the electorate. However, as increasingly effective techniques become available the question becomes more pressing.

This is too big a question to be limited to the professional. In my one tentative approach to the problem, I have written that “the ultimate answer must lie within society itself.”¹ The so