Behavioral, nonpsychoanalytic interventions for phobic conditions have shown to be quite effective in the reduction of symptomatology. This case documents that a combination of systematic desensitization, visual imagery, and in vivo exposure can reduce a phobic condition of 40 years duration. This intervention was shown to be effective even though the individual carried a concomitant diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
American Psychiatric Association . (1987). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (3rd ed., rev.). Washington, DC: Author.
2.
Bandura, A. , Blanchard, E. B., & Ritter, B. (1969). Relative efficacy of desensitization and modeling approaches for inducing behavioral, affective, and attitudinal changes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 13, 173-199.
3.
Bellack, A. S. (1986). Schizophrenia: Behavior therapy's forgotten child. Behavior Therapy, 17, 199-214.
4.
Bernstein, D. A. , & Borkovec, T. D. (1973). Progressive relaxation training: A manual for helping professionals. Champaign, IL: Research Press.
5.
Blanchard, E. B. , Kolb, L. C., Pallmeyer, T. P., & Gerardi, R. J. (1960). A psychophysiologic study of post traumatic stress disorder in Vietnam veterans. Psychiatric Quarterly, 54, 220-228.
6.
Cautela, J. R. (1986). Behavior analysis of a fetish: First interview. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 17, 161-165.
7.
Dobbs, D. , & Wilson, W. P. (1960). Observations of persistence of war neurosis. Diseases of the Nervous System, 21, 686-691.
8.
Foy, D. W. , Sipprelle, R. C., Rueger, D. B., & Carroll, E. M. (1984). Etiology of posttraumatic stress disorder in Vietnam veterans: Analysis of premilitary, military, and combat exposure influences. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 52, 79-87.
9.
Keane, T. M. , Zimmering, R. T., & Cauddell, J. M. (1985). A behavioral formulation of post-traumatic stress disorder in Vietnam veterans. Behavior Therapy, 8, 9-12.
10.
Kendall, P. C. , & Norton-Ford, J. (1982). Clinicalpsychology. New York: Wiley.
11.
Kolb, L. C. (1988). A critical survey of hypothesis regarding post-traumatic stress disorder in light of recent research findings. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 1, 291-304.
12.
Malloy, P. E. , Fairbank, J. A., & Keane, T. M. (1983). Validation of a multimethod assessment of post-traumatic stress disorder in Vietnam veterans. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 51, 488-504.
13.
Paul, G. L. (1966). Insight versus desensitization in psychotherapy: An experiment in anxiety reduction. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
14.
Perconte, S. T. (1988). Stages of treatment in PTSD. VAPractitioner, 5, 47-54.
15.
Phillips, L. W. (1986). Behavior analysis in a case of "post-partum depression."Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 17, 101-104.
16.
Pitman, R. K. , Orr, S. P., Forgue, D. F., deJong, J. B., & Clairborn, J. M. (1987). Psychophysiologic assessment of post-traumatic stress disorder imagery in Vietnam combat veterans. Archives of General Psychiatry, 44, 970-975.
17.
Rosen, J. , & Fields, R. (1988). The long-term effects of extraordinary trauma: A look beyond PTSD. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 2, 179-191.
18.
Silverman, W. H. (1986). Client-therapist cooperation in the treatment of compulsive handwashing behavior. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 17, 39-42.
19.
Teri, L. , & Lewinsohn, P. M. (1986). Individual and group treatment of unipolar depression: Comparison of treatment outcome and identification of predictors of successful treatment outcome. Behavior Therapy, 17, 215-228.
20.
van der Kolk, B. (1988)..The trauma spectrum: The interaction of biological and social events in the genesis of the trauma response. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 1, 273-290.
21.
van der Kolk, B. , Greenberg, M., Boyd, H., & Krystal, J. (1985). Inescapable shock, neurotrans-mitters and addiction to trauma: Toward a psychology of post-traumatic stress. Biological Psychiatry, 20, 314-325.
