ABSTRACT
Since the literature was rather insufficient for offering specific recommendations based on empirical research, it was decided to follow the Wolpe and Lazarus technique of relaxation and systematic desensitization until some part of the procedure should prove ineffective. Therefore, the first part of the first session was devoted to muscle relaxation training which apparently seemed to work quite well. The directions for muscle relaxation were derived from J. Wolpe and A. A. Lazarus in which the author explained the process and systematically instructed a four-year-old-phobic child to tense and relax various muscles throughout his body. Since the relaxation process seemed to work quite well the first time, one of the fear producing stimuli was verbally presented in hierarchial fashion. Typically the use of counterconditioning in the treatment of phobias for children has utilized some pleasant behavior, such as eating, as the response antagonistic to anxiety for conditioning to occur.
