Systematic desensitization is a therapeutic procedure employed to help persons overcome debilitating fears or phobias. Wolpe (1982) suggests that systematic desensitization is most appropriate for situations in which the client is a “passive responder to the stimulus” (p. 140).

Systematic Desensitization: Concept Definition. Systematic desensitization is a therapeutic procedure designed to help clients overcome anxiety that is disproportionate to the actual situation. The procedure contains four core elements:

Wolpe’s most famous therapeutic procedure, systematic desensitization, evolved from his laboratory work. As a therapist, he “endeavored to overcome anxiety in patients by getting them to perform acts that were antagonistic to anxiety in their daily lives” (Wolpe, 1990, p. 151).

In systematic desensitization, the negative emotional response is extinguished in the presence of gradually more intense conditioned stimuli by repeatedly presenting each stimulus without following it with the US that elicits the negative emotional response.

Systematic desensitization is often used to treat fears about concrete stimuli (e.g., spiders, heights, enclosures) and generalized social evaluative situations (e.g., interviews, exams, public performance) (Paul, 1969b).

The main advantage of in vivo desensitization is that generalization from experiencing no anxiety while visualizing a feared situation to experiencing no anxiety while making actual contact with it is no longer a issue because the behavior of concern is trained in the situation of concern.

Joseph Wolpe and Systematic Desensitization. Dr. Joseph Wolpe Biography; Systematic Desensitization: An Example; Systematic Desensitization: Overview; Systematic Desensitization: Theory; Case Study; Systematic Desensitization: Concept Definition; Systematic Desensitization: Variations; Systematic Desensitization: Research; References; Copyright ...

Systematic desensitization treatment of recurring nightmare and related insomnia. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 5, 97-98. Spiegler, M. D., & Guevremont, D. C. (1998).

Systematic Desensitization: An Example. Nancy was beginning graduate school. She had managed to earn her undergraduate degree without ever having to talk in class. Just the thought of her classmates watching her speak terrified her, causing her …

After you read the following case study you will be asked a series of questions about it based on the Systematic Desensitization: Theory section of this tutorial. It is assumed that you have a basic understanding of classical conditioning.