Which behavioral therapy technique is commonly used to treat phobias by gradually exposing a client to the feared stimulus?

• A. Systemic desensitization
• B. Token economy
• C. Exposure therapy
• D. Psychoanalysis

Answer: (A)

Gradual exposure to the feared stimulus paired with relaxation training is the principle at work here. Systemic desensitization uses a fear hierarchy—starting with situations that provoke only mild anxiety and progressively moving to more challenging ones. The client learns and practices a calming response, such as deep relaxation or controlled breathing, and each step is approached while maintaining that calm state. Because relaxation is incompatible with high anxiety, the fear response gradually diminishes as the person encounters feared stimuli in a controlled, non-threatening way. This combination—stress reduction during exposure—creates a new, relaxing association with the feared object or situation, rather than the old pattern of fear and avoidance.

This approach is especially suited to phobias since it directly targets the conditioned anxiety response and replaces it with a coping mechanism that can be applied in real-life scenarios. It differs from plain exposure therapy, which may involve confronting feared stimuli without the structured relaxation component, and from token economies or psychoanalytic approaches, which serve different purposes—behavior modification through reinforcement, and exploring unconscious processes, respectively.