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In our time we have been confronted with a huge variety of theories and techniques designed to manage, treat, or cure the psychological ills of the human organism. Although this book is on the treatment of
phobias, its orientation is highly specific and limited to the framework of the behavioral approach. With an emphasis on learning theory and broad reference to experimental psychology, Rachman describes and discusses the experimental and clinical data as a means of supporting the concept that phobias are most efficaciously resolved by viewing them as maladaptive conditioned responses.
In the first chapter the reader is provided with a simple frame of reference. The phobia is defined and analyzed into three component parts: subjective, autonomic, and motor. The phobic response is then illustrated by the several case examples, which are followed by a brief discussion of the nature of the phobic person in terms of innate and learned factors in relation to control. Primary emphasis is given to the works of Eysenck and Rachman. The next chapter describes the categories of phobias with regard to their complexity, their proximity or remoteness, and the kind of situation or object feared. Developmental aspects of fear responses are reviewed by distinguishing between childhood and adulthood experiences.
The author builds an edifice of behavioral theory with a generous covering of research from Watson to the present day. He traces it systematically from theory to the particular methodology of systematic desensitization as developed by Wolpe. Case material is introduced to detail procedure and describe its success, which is corroborated by a chapter on the experimental basis of desensitization treatment and a chapter on the clinical results of desensitization as reported by numerous workers in the field. The volume concludes with a report on additional behavioral techniques that may be applied if “the better-established technique of desensitization is inapplicable or ineffec