situation that spurs his or her obsession (e.g., touching
a doorknob) and is prevented from engaging in the
compulsive behavior that relieves the obsession (e.g.,
repeated hand washing). Ultimately, the patient will
habituate to his or her obsession, and the compulsive
behavior will be extinguished.
exposure therapyA behavioral technique for
reducing anxiety in which patients expose them-
selves (in real life or in fantasy) to stimuli or
situations that are feared or avoided. To be
effective, the exposure must provoke anxiety,
must be of sufficient duration, and must be
repeated until all anxiety is eliminated.
extinctionThe elimination of an undesired
response (e.g., behavioral, emotional).
habituationThe elimination of a response that
comes about from the repeated and/or prolonged
presentation of the provoking stimulus.
interoceptive cuesInternal physiological stimuli
(e.g., dizziness or nausea).
modelingAlso known as observational learning,
the learning of a new skill or set of behaviors by
observing another person perform these skills/
behaviors.
overcorrectionA form of aversion therapy in
which the client is made to“overcorrect”for the
consequences of his or her undesired behavior.
Premack principleAlso known as“Grandma’s
rule,”the contingency management technique in
which a behavior is reinforced by allowing the
individual to engage in a more attractive activity
once the target behavior is completed.
rational-emotive therapy (RET)Atherapy
pioneered by Albert Ellis in which patients are
forced to confront and correct their own illogical
thinking. In Ellis’s system, a person’sbeliefsabout
events, rather than the events themselves, deter-
mine the problematic emotional or behavioral
consequences.
rational restructuringAn eclectic set of tech-
niques that teaches individuals to examine their
assumptions about situations or the world in general
and alter their ideas to be more realistic or rational.
relaxationA state of lowered anxiety, stress, and
physiological arousal. Relaxation may be induced by
tensing and then relaxing various muscle groups or via
breathing exercises, imagery exercises, or hypnosis.
response costA form of aversion therapy in
which positive reinforcers are removed following
an undesired behavior.
shapingA contingency management technique in
which a behavior is developed by first rewarding
any behavior that approximates it and then by
selectively reinforcing behaviors that more and
more resemble the target behavior.
stress-inoculation training (SIT)A technique
developed by Donald Meichenbaum that attempts
to prevent problems by“inoculating”patients to
ongoing and future stressors. SIT involves edu-
cating patients about how certain appraisal patterns
lead to stress, teaching them to identify and cope
with potential stressors, rehearsing these coping
skills in the therapy setting, and consolidating these
skills by applying them across a range of real-life,
stressful situations.
successive approximationAnother term for
shaping.
symptom substitutionThe notion that if a
symptom is removed without attending to the
underlying pathology of an illness, another
symptom will emerge to take its place.
systematic desensitizationA behavioral tech-
nique for reducing anxiety in which patients
practice relaxation while visualizing anxiety-
provoking situations of increasing intensity. In this
way, the patient becomes“desensitized”to the
feared stimulus.
time-outA contingency management technique
in which a person is removed temporarily from the
situation that is reinforcing the undesired behavior.
token economyA system in which desired
behaviors are promoted through the strict control
of reinforcements. Establishing such a system
requires specifying the immediate reinforcers for
each behavior as well as the backup reinforcers for
which patients can exchange their immediate
reinforcers.PSYCHOTHERAPY: BEHAVIORAL AND COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL PERSPECTIVES 429