Behaviour therapies postulate that psychological distress arises because of faulty behaviour patterns or thought patterns. Systematic desensitization is a behavior therapy technique. Systematic desensitization is a technique introduced by Wolpe for treating phobias or irrational fears. The client is interviewed to elicit -provoking situations and together with the client, the therapist prepares a hierarchy of anxiety-provoking stimuli with the least anxiety-provoking stimuli at the bottom of the hierarchy. The therapist relaxes the client and asks the client to think about the least anxiety- provoking situation. The client is asked to stop thinking of the fearful situation if the slightest tension is felt. Over sessions, the client is able to imagine more severe provoking situations while maintaining the relaxation. The client gets systematically desensitized to the ****.
It works on the principle of reciprocal inhibition.
