Joseph Wolpe

Joseph Wolpe (born April 20, 1915 in Johannesburg , † December 4, 1997 in Los Angeles ) was a South African-American psychiatrist and psychotherapist . He developed the systematic desensitization process to reduce phobias and is considered a pioneer in behavior therapy .

life and work

Wolpe was born in South Africa as the eldest son of an immigrant family. He finished his medical studies at the University of Witwatersrand in 1938 . During the Second World War he volunteered as a military doctor. His confrontation with war neuroses aroused his interest in psychiatric issues. As a resident psychiatrist in Cape Town, he tried to develop learning-theoretical techniques, particularly for the treatment of anxiety disorders . In his book Psychotherapy by reciprocal inhibition published in 1958, he described his technique of desensitization, which was widely accepted as a practicable and scientifically well-documented procedure in the professional world.

In 1966, Wolpe accepted an offer from Temple University Philadelphia to set up its own behavioral therapy department. Here he also initially worked with Arnold A. Lazarus , who later developed his own form of therapy with "multimodal behavioral therapy". 1982 was inspired by the Temple University Wolpe emeritus , but eventually accepted an offer of Pepperdine University in Los Angeles , where he remained active until his death.

In 1979 the American Psychological Society recognized Wolpe as a pioneer in the field of the practical application of psychological principles and presented him with the "Scientific Award for the Application of Psychology".

literature

• Roger Poppen: Joseph Wolpe . Sage, London 1995, ISBN 0-8039-8667-X
• Joseph Wolpe: Our pointless fears. Ways to overcome them . 2nd edition, Econ, Düsseldorf 1988, ISBN 3-612-20031-3
• Joseph Wolpe: Practice of behavior therapy . 2nd reprint, Huber, Bern 1977, ISBN 3-456-30528-1

source

Irmgard Oberhummer: Wolpe, Joseph . In: Gerhard Stumm u. a. (Ed.): Personal dictionary of psychotherapy . Springer, Vienna 2005, pp. 518-519. ISBN 3-211-83818-X

Web links

• Literature by and about Joseph Wolpe in the catalog of the German National Library