counterconditioning
- noun
- /ˌkaʊntərkənˈdɪʃənɪŋ/
- Specialized
:
contracondicionamiento
- The therapist used counterconditioning to help her client overcome fears.
Examples
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Through counterconditioning, the patient learned to associate dogs with positive feelings instead of anxiety.
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Many therapists use counterconditioning as part of treatment for phobias and anxiety disorders.
-
The psychologist used counterconditioning to help the child overcome his fear of loud noises.
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He learned about counterconditioning in his psychology class.
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In therapy, they used counterconditioning to help him overcome his fear of dogs.
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The psychologist explained that counterconditioning can change how people react to specific triggers.
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After several sessions of counterconditioning, she was able to enjoy being around cats without feeling anxious.
Synonyms
1
6.8
To change learned reactions like fear by training or therapy
A therapy method that teaches a calm response instead of fear to something
A therapy method using one response to stop another that cannot occur together, for example using relaxation to reduce anxiety
A treatment that teaches people to relax to reduce anxiety in scary situations
How Effective
- Specialized
- Specialized
2
4.6
- Specialized
3
7.7
Surface Forms
Morphology
counterconditioning = conditioning (transparent) = counter + condition + ing
Formed by adding the productive prefix 'counter-' to 'conditioning'; the meaning (conditioning applied to oppose an existing response) follows regular compositional logic.
Etymology
Counterconditioning comes from the prefix counter- meaning 'against' and conditioning meaning 'training a response'. So, counterconditioning is a therapy method that 'trains' a new, positive response to replace an unwanted one.