Experiments in Behaviour Therapy, Edited by H. J. Eysenck: Reciprocal Inhibition, Conditioning and the Treatment of Phobias
How do you treat a phobia, a compulsion or a stammer with the methods of experimental science? Experiments in Behaviour Therapy, edited by the psychologist H. J. Eysenck, brings together studies that apply learning theory to the treatment of mental disorders.
Editor: H. J. Eysenck (1916–1997)
Title: Experiments in Behaviour Therapy
Format: English paperback (Pergamon reprint), 572 pages
Scope: Collected experimental studies in behaviour therapy
Amazon: www.amazon.es/dp/1483169081 (ASIN 1483169081)
Scientific Psychology
The book is a set of experiments and studies on modern psychology and methods of learning: scientific psychology, backed by extensive references. Each paper shows the method followed, the results obtained, often in tables, and the conclusions. The Spanish edition the reviewer read was published in two parts, on reciprocal inhibition and on conditioning methods.
From Phobias to Tics
Among the topics are the treatment of phobias and obsessive-compulsive disorders, the elimination of stammering in people with communication problems, the treatment of involuntary tics and spasms, and self-hypnosis to improve concentration or prevent panic attacks. Some of the more striking and unusual cases stand out.
An Open Field
The study of human behaviour has attracted many psychologists and educators and has opened many debates in medicine. Even today the brain remains unknown in some respects, and we need to study its workings further.
Hans Eysenck
Hans Jürgen Eysenck (1916–1997) was born in Berlin and left Germany as a young man after the Nazis came to power, settling in Britain. He spent most of his career at the Institute of Psychiatry in London, where he became one of the most cited psychologists in the world. He was best known for his theory of personality, built around dimensions such as extraversion and neuroticism, and for his insistence that psychology should be an experimental science based on measurable evidence.
A Challenge to Psychoanalysis
In 1952 Eysenck published a famous paper arguing that there was little evidence that traditional psychotherapy, especially psychoanalysis, helped patients more than the passage of time. The paper caused a storm and helped open the way for behaviour therapy, which treats problems such as phobias as learned habits that can be unlearned using principles from laboratory research on conditioning. This book, published in 1964, was part of his effort to show that the new approach could be tested and measured.
Desensitisation and Other Methods
Many of the studies collected here use techniques that are still recognisable today, such as systematic desensitisation, developed by the South African psychiatrist Joseph Wolpe, in which patients are gradually exposed to what they fear while learning to stay relaxed. Such methods became the foundation of modern cognitive behavioural therapy, now one of the most widely used treatments for anxiety and related disorders.
A Controversial Figure
Eysenck’s career was marked by controversy, including his views on intelligence and, after his death, serious questions about some of his later research on personality and disease, several papers from which have been retracted. Those disputes do not concern this collection directly, but readers interested in the history of psychology will want to know the full picture.
Reading It Today
This is a historical, technical book rather than a practical guide. It is most valuable to students and professionals who want to see how behaviour therapy was first tested in the laboratory and clinic.
University libraries are the easiest place to consult it.
Second-hand copies also appear.
It is a fascinating historical document.
Who Is It For?
Students and professionals of psychology and anyone interested in the history of behaviour therapy. It is a technical collection of experiments that try to explain and describe how people behave, and scientific methods applied to the wide world of psychiatry.
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