Abstract
1) Eighteen psychoneurotic patients exposed to long-term repetition of verbal signals developed the following attitudes:
a) ten patients incorporated the verbal signals into their day-to-day patterns of behaviour.
b) five patients developed a dependency upon the verbal signals, using them from time to time when they came to difficulties in their daily living.
c) three patients developed a ‘mystical relationship’ to the verbal signals, using them not in terms of their manifest content, but as having ‘magical powers’ to solve their day-to-day problems.
2) The duration of favourable changes produced by verbal repetition can be prolonged and maintained by their reinforcement over a longer period of time if the repetition is continued on an out-patient basis, even at a reduced rate.
3) Modification of associated symptoms occurs as a secondary effect of continued, long-term verbal repetition.
4) Using the procedure described, relapse into older forms of neurotic behaviour can be reduced by modifying the rate and intensity of exposure to verbal signals on a continuing long-term basis.