RESUMO
An outpatient with phobias related to enclosed places, hospitals, doctors, and cancer was treated by systematic desensitization; the facilities of a general hospital were used for part of the process. Steps in treatment included securing a complete psychiatric and social history, teaching the patient relaxation therapy techniques, and establishing a hierarchy of anxiety-provoking stimuli specifically related to the patient's fears. After desensitization the patient was able to enter the hospital for tests for a physical ailment and showed a general decrease in her fears.
Assuntos
Terapia Comportamental , Dessensibilização Psicológica , Hospitais Gerais , Transtornos Fóbicos/terapia , Adulto , Depressão/terapia , Feminino , Humanos , Terapia de RelaxamentoRESUMO
The salivation patterns of a group of nine obese and a group of 14 non-obese subjects were studied. Palatable food was presented and salivary responses were measured under two different conditions. In one condition, the subjects expected to eat, and in the other condition did not expect to eat. It was hypothesized that the obese group would exhibit a salivation pattern different from the non-obese group, and that this salivation pattern would be unrelated to whether or not eating was permitted. This hypothesis was not confirmed; no differences were found between the two groups. These findings conflict with those of earlier investigators and possible reasons for this are discussed.
Assuntos
Obesidade/fisiopatologia , Salivação , Sinais (Psicologia) , Alimentos , HumanosRESUMO
Transswitching is a variant of classical conditioning that entails the use of tonic stimuli of relatively long duration in addition to briefer, phasic stimuli which are paired or not paired with the unconditioned stimulus. The same conditioned stimulus can be conditioned to different conditioned responses in different environmental contexts. Using the transswitching procedure, the salivary response to food cues in two obese subjects was modified. The switching agent determined the relative amount of salivation. Techniques that alter alimentary responses to environmental food cues may be helpful in the treatment of obesity.