A Controlled Retrospective Study of Behaviour Therapy in Phobic Patients

Abstract

Considerable claims have been made for behaviour therapy, but the evidence for its effectiveness is still conflicting. There are several reasons for this. First, although behaviour therapy is a convenient term to describe treatments which reputedly share a common derivation from learning theory, it describes techniques which differ widely from one another in practice, and which at the same time have features in common with other forms of psychotherapy. Secondly, behaviour therapy has been applied to a variety of neurotic disorders, ranging from writer's cramp to phobias, and these syndromes often have distinct natural histories. Any general statement about the value of behaviour therapy in a mixed group of neuroses is therefore of limited value. Thirdly, the well-known tendency of neurotic disorders to respond to energetic and enthusiastic treatment with non-specific methods makes it difficult to assess the results of treatment unless a matched control group is included in the investigation, or, in the absence of a control group, an exceptionally high rate of recovery is obtained.