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Treatment of a Situational Phobia—A Case for Running

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Arnold Orwin
Arnold Orwin*
Affiliation:
Regional Behaviour Research Unit, Hollymoor Clinic, Hollymoor Hospital, Northfield, Birmingham, B31 5EX Department of Psychiatry, University of Birmingham
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Extract

Systematic desensitization using bodily responses other than relaxation as the specific anxiety inhibitor has produced positive results in phobic states. Jones (1924) used feeding, Wolpe (1969) advocated motor activity using a conditioned motor response, Ventis (1973) described a case where induced laughter was effective and Orwin (1971) paired the respiratory relief obtained after maximum voluntary respiratory arrest with the anxiety evoking stimuli. A derivation of this latter technique utilized the autonomic excitation caused by the vigorous physical exertion of running, to compete with the anxiety response in the agoraphobic syndrome (Orwin, 1973). This brief report describes an unusual situational phobia treated by this latter method (‘the running treatment’), following previous experience with simple claustrophobia.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 125 , Issue 584 , July 1974 , pp. 95 - 98
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1974 

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References

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