Understanding Psychology (10th Ed)

 Module 
49 
Psychotherapy: Psychodynamic, Behavioral, and Cognitive Approaches to Treatment 
549
any type of candy. You have learned through the basic process of classical condition-
ing to avoid candy so that you will not get sick and throw up.
 Aversive Conditioning.
This simple example illustrates how a person can be classi-
cally conditioned to modify behavior. Behavior therapists use this principle when 
they employ  aversive conditioning,    a form of therapy that reduces the frequency of 
undesired behavior by pairing an aversive, unpleasant stimulus with undesired 
behavior. For example, behavior therapists might use aversive conditioning by pair-
ing alcohol with a drug that causes severe nausea and vomiting. After the two have 
been paired a few times, the person associates the alcohol alone with vomiting and 
fi nds alcohol less appealing. 
Although aversion therapy works reasonably well in inhibiting substance-abuse 
problems such as alcoholism and certain kinds of sexual disorders, critics question 
its long-term effectiveness. Also, important ethical concerns surround aversion tech-
niques that employ such potent stimuli as electric shock, which therapists use only 
in the most extreme cases, such as patient self-mutilation. Clearly, though, aversion 
therapy offers an important procedure for eliminating maladaptive responses for 
some period of time—a respite that provides, even if only temporarily, an opportu-
nity to encourage more adaptive behavior patterns (Bordnick et al., 2004; Delgado, 
Labouliere, & Phelps, 2006).
 Systematic Desensitization.
Another treatment that grew out of the classical condi-
tioning is systematic desensitization. In  systematic desensitization,  gradual exposure 
to an anxiety-producing stimulus is paired with relaxation to extinguish the response 
of anxiety (Pagoto, Kozak, & Spates, 2006; Choy, Fyer, & Lipsitz, 2007; Dowling, 
Jackson, & Thomas, 2008). 
Suppose, for instance, you were extremely afraid of fl ying. The very thought 
of being in an airplane would make you begin to sweat and shake, and you 
couldn’t get yourself near enough to an airport to know how you’d react if you 
actually had to fl y somewhere. Using systematic desensitization to treat your prob-
lem, you would fi rst be trained in relaxation techniques by a behavior therapist 
and learn to relax your body fully—a highly pleasant state, as you might imagine 
(see Figure 2 ).