The history of psychology has been developed, as well as nourished, thanks to the contributions of great figures, authors, among whom we not only find psychologists, but also psychiatrists.
One of these psychiatrists was Joseph Wolpe (1915-1997), of South African origin, and whose contributions to the field of psychology were especially important for behavior therapy.
And with Wolpe came reciprocal inhibition techniques and systematic desensitization (SD), widely used today as a therapeutic option in simple phobias and other anxiety disorders.
In this article, as a biography, we will learn about the most important milestones in Joseph Wolpe’s life, especially at an academic and professional level. Finally, we will talk a little about his most relevant contributions in the field of psychology.
Who was Joseph Wolpe?
Joseph Wolpe He was a South African psychiatrist, as well as one of the most influential figures in behavioral therapy in psychology. He was born on April 20, 1915 in Johannesburg, South Africa, and died on December 4, 1997 in Los Angeles, at the age of 82.
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One from 2002, led by Haggbloom and published in the , ranked Wolpe as the 53rd most cited psychologist of the 20th century. This is a curious achievement, if nothing else, although it also has its merit, taking into account that Wolpe was a psychiatrist.
Origin and studies
Wolpe grew up in South Africa. He attended Parktown Boy’s High School and graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand. In 1956, at the age of 41, he received a Ford Fellowship to carry out predoctoral studies, which led him to spend a year at Stanford University (USA), specifically at the Center for Behavioral Sciences.
At this center he studied psychology. He later returned to South Africa, although in 1960 he moved permanently to the United States, at which time he accepted a position at the University of Virginia.
He spent five years at the University of Virginia; He was then offered a position at Temple University, Philadelphia, which he accepted. He will remain at said university until 1988.
Trajectory: from psychoanalysis to behavior therapy
John Wolpe also enlisted in the South African Army, as a medical officer. In the army he was in charge of treating soldiers diagnosed with what was known at that time as “war neurosis.” This war neurosis referred to what we today call Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
At that time, they treated soldiers basically through psychoanalytic therapy; Specifically, “narcotherapy” was used. What they did was explore the person’s trauma while they were hypnotized. However, the results were not very good, and as a result Wolpe, who had been a great follower of Freud, began to question this therapeutic approach.
He looked for more effective alternatives, and began to use reciprocal inhibition techniques. Specifically, and within them, he used systematic desensitization (SD), a type of intervention that revolutionized behavioral therapy of the time, and whose impact endures today.
Contributions to psychology: reciprocal inhibition techniques
Joseph Wolpe focused primarily on the treatment of anxiety, among other disorders. He began to develop reciprocal inhibition techniques (or reciprocal inhibition techniques). These were based, fundamentally, on assertiveness training.
His idea, through reciprocal inhibition, was to generate in patients feelings or responses incompatible with the sensation of anxiety, and in this way, reduce its levels.
Research with cats
During the beginning of his research, in the 1950s, which took place at Wits University, Wolpe used cats as objects of study, and managed to get them to overcome their fears through gradual and systematic exposure to themselves. What he did was offer them food while presenting them with conditioned fear stimuli. Thus, he used the act of eating as a way to inhibit anxiety, that is, as a response incompatible with it.
He achieved successful results with cats, and as a result, Wolpe began to use reciprocal inhibition in his patients through assertiveness training, especially to work on aggression or similar feelings.
Assertiveness training
Their hypothesis was the following: a person cannot express aggression, irritation or anger at the same moment in which they manifest assertive behaviors. That is, according to him, they were behaviors or responses that were incompatible with each other.
Wolpe’s assertiveness training proved to be useful in patients with anxiety symptoms, in social situations, or in patients with some type of social phobia. However, in other types of phobias the results were not good.
To improve the effectiveness of his technique and generalize it to other phobias, Joseph Wolpe decided to develop a more specific intervention protocol: the so-called systematic desensitization.
On its theoretical basis, it proposes that the patient who directly faces his fears (the so-called anxiety-producing stimuli) can experience intense feelings of frustration, so a gradual exposure is more convenient in many cases.
Systematic Desensitization
Joseh Wolpe explaining systematic desenzibilization.
Following his findings, Wolpe developed and perfected the technique of systematic desensitization for the treatment of phobias. DS consists of exposing the patient to images, objects or contexts that generate fear or anxiety, gradually, while performing a series of relaxation exercises.
Wolpe’s technique followed the principle of reciprocal inhibition already described: anxiety and relaxation are two incompatible states or responses of the individual, so one (relaxation) cancels out the other (anxiety or fear).
Thus, what Wolpe was defending was that no person can feel relaxed and anxious at the same time. Today, we know that this is the case, because physiologically different systems are activated in one state and in the other.
In anxiety our sympathetic autonomic nervous system is activated, while in relaxation, the parasympathetic autonomic nervous system (or parasympathetic branch). Thus, in DS, relaxation inhibits intense fear or anxiety.
Three steps of the DS
To properly apply the DS technique that Joseph Wolpe developed, three steps must be performed. These steps are carried out after the professional carries out an exhaustive formulation of the case (behavioral analysis). These steps are:
- Training in relaxation techniques.
- The creation of a hierarchy of phobic or anxiety-inducing stimuli.
- The implementation of systematic desensitization.
Death and legacy
Joseph Wolpe dedicated much of his life to researching treatments for anxiety, and developing his protocol to help people with these types of disorders. The psychiatrist died at the age of 82 in Los Angeles, on December 4, 1997.
His legacy remains in force today as an essential part of behavior therapy, a legacy that has also served as a seed for the development of other theories and techniques.
References:
- Caballo, V. and Simón, MA (2002). Manual of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychopathology. General disorders. Pyramid: Madrid.
- Haggbloom, Steven J.; Warnick, Renee; Warnick, Jason E.; Jones, Vinessa K.; Yarbrough, Gary L.; Russell, Tenea M.; Borecky, Chris M.; McGahhey, Reagan; Powell, John L., III; Beavers, Jamie; Monte, Emmanuelle (2002). . Review of General Psychology. 6 (2): 139–52. . :. .
- Kandel, E.R.; Schwartz, J.H. & Jessell, T.M. (2001). Neuroscience principles. Fourth edition. McGraw-Hill Interamericana. Madrid.
- Rachman, Stanley (2000). “Joseph Wolpe (1915-1997)”. American psychologist. 55 (4): 431–432. :.