During the early 20th century, phobias were primarily viewed through a psychodynamic lens, attributed to repressed childhood conflicts. Therapists relied on psychoanalysis to uncover these hidden traumas. However, these methods often took years and had mixed success.
In 1958, Joseph Wolpe introduced systematic desensitisation, a behaviourist therapy designed to treat phobias. This therapy is based on classical conditioning, specifically the principle of reciprocal inhibition—the idea that one cannot be both anxious and relaxed at the same time.
The therapy involves three main steps. First, the patient is trained in deep muscle relaxation techniques. Second, the therapist and patient construct an anxiety hierarchy, ranking fear-inducing situations from least to most terrifying. Finally, the patient gradually works through the hierarchy, pairing the relaxation states with the feared stimuli, either in imagination (in vitro) or real life (in vivo), until the fear response is extinguished.
By the late 20th century, systematic desensitisation and its variant, flooding, became the dominant clinical methods for treating specific anxieties, demonstrating how classical conditioning could be actively harnessed to reprogram conditioned emotional responses.
Outline the procedure used in Watson and Rayner's (1920) 'Little Albert' study and briefly explain how this relates to the use of systematic desensitisation for phobias.
