The therapy that cures phobias by pairing fear with relaxation, one small step at a time

In the 1950s, psychiatrist Joseph Wolpe developed a treatment that teaches a patient to relax deeply, then gradually exposes them to a feared thing, starting with something barely scary and working up a 'hierarchy' toward the real fear. Because relaxation and fear can't occupy the body at once, the fear response slowly gets unlearned.

— Joseph Wolpe, Psychotherapy by Reciprocal Inhibition — Stanford University Press, 1958
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