The Psychology Book (28 page)

AND RELAX

JOSEPH WOLPE (1915–1997)

IN CONTEXT

According to Pavlov and

APPROACH

Watson, it is possible to

People cannot feel

Reciprocal inhibition

learn an emotional

two opposing emotions

response
to a particular

at the same time.

BEFORE

stimulus.

1906
Ivan Pavlov publishes

the first studies on stimulus-

response techniques, showing

that behavior can be learned

through conditioning.

So it must also be possible

If someone is
relaxed
, they

1913
John B. Watson

to
unlearn a response
to

cannot also be
anxious
.

a stimulus.

publishes
Psychology as

a Behaviorist Views
It
,

establishing the basic tenets

of behavioral psychology.

1920
John B. Watson’s

If
deep relaxation
is taught as a conditioned

Little Albert experiments

response to a
feared object
, anxiety cannot be

demonstrate that emotions

felt at the same time.

can be classically conditioned.

1953
B.F. Skinner publishes

The Behavior of Organisms
,

presenting his theories on how

human behavior relates to

biology and the environment.

F
or most of the first half of the thoughts, including their formative 20th century, psychotherapy

experiences. But South African-

was dominated by Freudian

born psychiatrist Joseph Wolpe had

psychoanalysis, which assumes

treated soldiers for anxiety brought

AFTER

that anxiety results from conflicting

on by post-traumatic stress

forces deep within the psyche.

disorder (then known as “war

1961
Wolpe introduces the

This conflict can only be alleviated

neurosis”) during World War II, and

concept of systematic

through a lengthy, introspective

had found these psychotherapeutic

desensitization.

analysis of both the individual’s

practices ineffective in helping his

conscious and subconscious

patients. Talking to these men

BEHAVIORISM 87

See also:
Ivan Pavlov 60–61 ■ John B. Watson 66–71 ■ B.F. Skinner 78–85 ■ Aaron Beck 174–77 ■ W.H.R. Rivers 334

deep-muscle relaxation techniques,

which he went on to pair with

simultaneous exposure to

some form of anxiety-inducing

stimuli—a technique that became

known as reciprocal inhibition.

Behavior depends upon

Wolpe’s patients were asked

the paths that neural

to imagine the thing or event that

excitation takes.

they found disturbing. If they

Joseph Wolpe

started to become anxious, they

would be encouraged to “stop

imagining the scene and relax.”

This approach gradually blocked

out a patient’s feelings of fear. Just

as the patient had previously been

conditioned by his experiences to

about their experiences did not

become anxious when recalling

stop their flashbacks to the original

certain particularly harrowing

Phobias such as fear of mice
have

trauma, nor did it end their anxiety.

memories, he now became

been treated successfully using methods

developed from Wolpe’s idea of reciprocal

conditioned—within a very short

inhibition: the pairing of deep relaxation

Unlearning fear

time—to block out his anxiety

with exposure to the feared object.

Wolpe believed that there must be

response, by focusing on the

a simpler and quicker way than

directly contradictory feeling of

psychoanalysis to address the

being totally relaxed.

results, and led to many important

problem of deep anxiety. He was

Wolpe’s reciprocal inhibition

new techniques in the field of

aware of the work of behaviorists

succeeded in reconditioning the

behavioral therapy. Wolpe himself

such as Ivan Pavlov and John

brain by focusing solely on symptoms

used it to develop a systematic

Watson, who had successfully

and current behavior, without any

desensitization program to cure

taught animals and children new

analysis of a patient’s past. It was

phobias, such as fear of mice or

behavioral patterns through

also effective and brought fast

flying, which is still widely used. ■

stimulus-response training, or

classical conditioning. They had

Joseph Wolpe

he taught at the University

been able to make a previously

of Virginia, then became a

unfelt emotional response to an

Joseph Wolpe was born in

professor of psychiatry at

object or event become automatic.

Johannesburg, South Africa.

Temple University, Philadelphia,

Wolpe reasoned that if behavior

He studied medicine at the

where he set up a respected

could be learned in this way,

University of Witwatersrand,

behavioral therapy institute.

it could also be unlearned, and he

then served in the South African

Renowned as a brilliant teacher,

proposed to find a method of using

Army, where he treated people

Wolpe continued to teach until

this to help disturbed war veterans.

for “war neurosis.” Returning

he died of lung cancer, aged 82.

Wolpe had discovered that a

to the university to develop his

Key works

human being is not capable of

desensitization technique, he was

ridiculed by the psychoanalytic

experiencing two contradictory

establishment for attempting to

1958
Psychotherapy by

states of emotion at the same time.

treat neuroses without first

Reciprocal Inhibition

It is not possible, for example, to

identifying their cause. Wolpe

1969
Practice of Behavioral

feel great anxiety of any kind, when

relocated to the US in 1960,

Therapy

you are feeling very relaxed. This

taking US citizenship. Initially,

1988
Life Without Fear

inspired him to teach his patients

PSYCHOT

THE UNCONSCIOUS

DETERMINES

BEHAVIOR

HERAPY