Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T19:50:41.405Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Hypnosis and Desensitization for Phobias: A Controlled Prospective Trial

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

I. M. Marks ,
M. G. Gelder  and
Griffith Edwards
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Although systematic desensitization has been used for a decade in the treatment of phobias, its mode of action is not yet fully understood. During treatment by desensitization patients are relaxed while they are asked to visualize situations which evoke progressively more fear. Desensitization is given in the context of routine psychiatric management, and it is obvious that many variables may contribute to the overall effect of treatment. Among those which it is important to examine are: exposure, i.e. visualization of the imagined phobic stimulus without relaxation; relaxation without presentation of phobic images; densensitization, i.e. the pairing of the graded imagined phobic stimuli with relaxation; repeated suggestion of improvement; the relationship to the therapist, and finally the many non-specific effects of routine hospital care.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 114 , Issue 515 , October 1968 , pp. 1263 - 1274
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1968 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barber, T. X. (1962). “Experimental controb and the phenomena of hypnosis: a critique of hypnotic research methodology.” J. nerv. ment. Dis., 134, 493–503.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davison, G. G. (1967). “Systematic desensitization as a counter-conditioning process.” J. abnorm. Psychol., in press.Google Scholar
Dixon, J. J., de Monchaux, C., and Sandler, J. (1957a). “Patterns of anxiety: an analysis of social anxieties.” Brit. J. med. Psychol., 30, 107.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dixon, J. J., de Monchaux, C., and Sandler, J. (1957b). “Patterns of anxiety: the phobias.” Ibid., 30, 34–40.Google ScholarPubMed
Edwards, J. G. (1965). “Quantitative aspects of posthypnotic affect.” D.M. Thesis, University of Oxford.Google Scholar
Gelder, M. G., and Marks, I. M. (1966). “Severe agoraphobia: a controlled prospective therapeutic trial.” Brit. J. Psychiat., 112, 309–319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gelder, M. G., and Wolff, H. H. (1967). “Desensitization and psychotherapy in phobic states. A controlled inquiry.” Ibid., 113, 53–73.Google Scholar
Kimble, G. A. (1961). In Revised Version of Conditioning and Learning (by Hilgard, and Marquis, ). p. 473. London: Methuen.Google Scholar
Lader, M. H., Gelder, M. G., and Marks, I. M. (1967). “Palmar skin conductance measures as predictors of response to desensitization.” J. psychosom. Res., 11, 283–290.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lang, P. J., Lazowick, A. D., and Reynolds, D. J. (1965). “Desensitization, suggestibility and pseudo-therapy.” J. abnorm. Psychol., 70, 395–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lazarus, A. A. (1961). “Group therapy of phobic disorders by systematic desensitization.” J. abnorm. soc. Psychol., 63, 504–510.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marks, I. M., and Gelder, M. G. (1965). “A controlled retrospective trial of behaviour therapy in phobic patients.” Brit. J. Psychiat., 111, 561–573.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marks, I. M., Birley, J. L. T., and Gelder, M. G. (1966). “Modified leucotomy in severe agoraphobia: a controlled serial inquiry.” Ibid., 112, 757–769.Google ScholarPubMed
Moll, A. (1891). Hypnotism. London: Walter Scott. (English translation of Der Hypnotismus, Berlin, 1889.)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, N. (1965). “Behaviour therapy in bronchial asthma: a controlled study of some factors.” Unpublished dissertation for D.P.M., University of London and Institute of Psychiatry Libraries.Google Scholar
Paul, G. L. (1966). Insight vs. Desensitization in Psychotherapy. An Experiment in Anxiety Reduction. Stanford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paul, G. L., and Shannon, D. T. (1966). “Treatment of anxiety through systematic desensitization in therapy groups.” J. abnorml. Psychol., 6, 124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rachman, S. (1965). “Studies in desensitization. I. The separate effects of relaxation and desensitization.” Behav. Res. and Ther., 3, 245–251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schilder, P. (1921). Über das Wesen der Hypnose. Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
Wolpe, J. (1958). Psychotherapy by Reciprocal Inhibition. Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.