Psychotherapy apparatus and method for treating undesirable emotional arousal of a patient
First Claim
1. A psychotherapy apparatus for treating undesirable emotional arousal of a patient, comprising:
- (a) means for presenting visual stimuli so as to be observed by a stationarily-positioned patient substantially at predetermined opposite extremes of the patient'"'"'s range of eye movement;
(b) means for presenting auditory stimuli to the ears of the patient; and
(c) control means connected to said visual stimuli presenting means and to said auditory stimuli presenting means for operating said visual stimuli presenting means to movably alternate the visual stimuli between the predetermined extremes of the patient'"'"'s range of eye movement and for operating said auditory stimuli presenting means to movably alternate the auditory stimuli between the patient'"'"'s ears.
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Abstract
A psychotherapy apparatus and method provides treating of an undesirable emotional arousal of a patient through coordinated and controlled presentation of visual and auditory stimuli to the patient. The operative steps of the psychotherapy apparatus and method include presenting visual stimuli observable by a stationarily-positioned patient at right and left extremes of the patient'"'"'s range of lateral eye movement, alternately switching the visual stimuli laterally between the right and left extremes of the patient'"'"'s range of lateral eye movement, presenting auditory stimuli to the patient'"'"'s ears, alternately switching the auditory stimuli between the patient'"'"'s ears synchronously with alternately switching of the visual stimuli between the right and left extremes of the patient'"'"'s range of lateral eye movement, monitoring physiological responses of the patient to the visual and auditory stimuli, and, in response to such monitoring, controlling the presenting and switching of the visual and auditory stimuli so as to elict a mental imagery of a negative experience of the patient and to eliminate the undesirable emotional arousal evoked by the negative experience and to substitute a positive experience reinforcing a desired new behavior.
228 Citations
26 Claims
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1. A psychotherapy apparatus for treating undesirable emotional arousal of a patient, comprising:
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(a) means for presenting visual stimuli so as to be observed by a stationarily-positioned patient substantially at predetermined opposite extremes of the patient'"'"'s range of eye movement; (b) means for presenting auditory stimuli to the ears of the patient; and (c) control means connected to said visual stimuli presenting means and to said auditory stimuli presenting means for operating said visual stimuli presenting means to movably alternate the visual stimuli between the predetermined extremes of the patient'"'"'s range of eye movement and for operating said auditory stimuli presenting means to movably alternate the auditory stimuli between the patient'"'"'s ears. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A psychotherapy method for treating an undesirable emotional arousal of a patient, comprising the steps of:
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(a) presenting visual stimuli so as to be observed by a stationarily-positioned patient substantially at predetermined opposite extremes of the patient'"'"'s range of eye movement; (b) presenting auditory stimuli to the ears of the patient; (c) alternately switching the visual stimuli between the predetermined extremes of the patient'"'"'s range of eye movement; and (d) alternately switching the auditory stimuli between the patient'"'"'s ears. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification