Life and Accomplishments of Arnold Lazarus - Report Example

Running Head: BIOGRAPHY OF ARNOLD LAZARUS Biography of Arnold Lazarus of Arnold Lazarus was a clinical psychologist before his time. He has made significant contributions to the world of psychotherapy and psychiatry that will be explored in this report. He has contributed many books and articles to the field and he has been honored for his many ideas. Lazarus has pioneered work in the self-help area and he is known for his contribution of Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Multimodal Therapy. Biography of Arnold Lazarus "Think Well-Act Well-Feel Well-Be Well ™" Arnold Lazarus has always been a scientific genius. He has studied human behavior for over 50 years and he has discovered many new ways to work in therapy that has contributed greatly to the psychological and counseling fields. Central to his work has been the phrase that started this report "Think Well-Act Well-Feel Well-Be-Well". This is his model and it is prominently displayed on his website. His contributions to the field have moved counselors into a better understanding of the "best practices" for certain disorders. Not only has he been a pioneer in the field but he has received hundreds of honors and opportunities in the past and in the world today. Early Life in South Africa: Birth and Early Education Lazarus was born in 1932 in Johannesburg South Africa. Not much is known about his life in South Africa but it is known that his early education started at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. While he was there he studied psychology and earn a B.A. degree. His interests lay in psychology and behavior. In 1956 he published his first paper in psychotherapy as his [perhaps] his Masters thesis entitled, "Behavior Therapy (Novel Guide, 2009). Lazarus came to America in 1963 to become a "visiting assistant professor" in psychology at Stanford University for one year. After that he went back to Witwatersrand University to lecture at their medical school for psychiatry. In 1966 he moved to America again to become the director of the Behavior Therapy Institute in Sausalito, California. He continued writing and in that year he published, Behavior Therapy Techniques with his colleague Joseph Wolpe (Novel Guide). By 1970, Lazarus became a visiting professor at Temple University Medical School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as a behavioral science professor. In each situation he continued to focus on human behavior and psychology. Development of Psychological Methods Lazarus is credited with being a pioneer in the field of psychotherapy. Prior to his work most psychotherapists used a "token economy" or other behavior technique that often took a lot of time and energy for the client to find relief. Arnold Lazarus Behavior Therapy Lazarus saw that behavior therapy alone was not effective in treating some disorders. He worked in his private practice and concentrated on patients who were motivated in cognitive behavior therapy and he say they were still experiencing problems. He found that some patients, particularly those who suffered from depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, panic and anxiety disorders or family and marital difficulties had had frequent relapses after therapy. As an example, Lazarus studied 100 cases of traditional behavior therapy and found that there was a 37% relapse in them. He criticized behavior therapy because of this relapse potential and was responded to in the literature. In a response to Wolpe (Lazarus, 1986), he makes it clear that the reason he created multimodal therapy later is because of he felt that better results could happen with a combination of several modalities (Lazarus, 1986, p. 1028). Lazarus wrote extensively to show that behavior therapy was severely limited in what they could do in a short period of time. His contribution came from the book, Behavior Therapy and Beyond, in which he outlines his thoughts that if therapists go beyond behavior therapy they will help the client find "something fuller, richer and more effective" ( Wolpe, 1972, p. 391) than they could find with the limitations of behavior therapy. The impact for Lazarus was that this took him out of being seen only as a "behaviorist" and brought a modality into the behavior therapy arena that would allow clients to find a stronger opportunity to take charge of their lives. Desensitization Techniques He was the first person to study treatment techniques for phobias and to use desensitization techniques to treat phobias in group therapy. Before he wrote about this technique he studied other psychologists work. He did a study in which he used 35 "middle-class urban White South Africans" who had problems in their daily life because of phobias. Most of the people in the study were in some stage of college while 12 in the study had only three years of college (Lazarus, 1961, p. 504). He used both males and females and the female patients were housewives. The people in the study suffered from acrophobia, claustrophobia and sexual phobia; there were four in the study who suffered from "mixed" phobias. He wanted to compare desensitization techniques with traditional group therapy techniques. What he found was that of the 18 who they had used desensitization techniques with only three relapsed; the others found full recovery (Lazarus, 1961, p. 508). He tested the participants at six months and seven months. This information was used again in his book, In the Minds Eye to show how imagery worked in the use of desensitization. According to Lazarus: Usually, only a few weeks of desensitization are required before the person can picture the most disturbing items without experiencing subjective discomfort … (Lazarus, 1984, p, 79). He was able to use these techniques on children as well as adults. A major impact on psychotherapy was the fact that through using his techniques clients were able to spend less time in therapy. Today, Cognitive Behavior Therapy is one of the most used psychotherapies to treat patients with depression, schizophrenia and other mood disorder problems. Multimodal Therapy Lazarus took his knowledge of cognitive behavior therapy and he scrutinized it deeply. He felt that when an individual finished therapy they should be able to move on with their lives. He was bothered by the fact that people with certain disorders were prone to relapse into old behaviors. He developed multimodal therapy because he did not want the therapist to be limited in the modalities they used with a therapist. He states that this is an "approach rather than a closed system of therapy that tries to find out what will work best with this individual" (Lazarus, 2009). He has the therapist think through seven modalities with the client that includes " Behavior, Affect, Sensation, Imagery, Cognition, Interpersonal, and Drugs/Biological" (Stricker, 2009, p. 1). To refer to this process he has established an acronym of "Basic I.D.". This type of therapy has helped therapists look at the big picture when they are attempting to work with clients so they will be able to work with anyone. Important Books The largest contribution that Arnold Lazarus has made to psychotherapy is in his writing. He has not only written for the psychiatric community but he has also written for self-help. In 1975 he published I Can If I Want To with another psychologist, Alan Fey. Said to be a handbook for any problem that someone may have this book continues to sell many. In 1977 he followed with the book In the Minds Eye: The Power of Imagery for Personal Enrichment, which told about desensitization and how people could create their own imagery. In 1993 he wrote Dont Believe It for a Minute!: Forty Toxic Ideas That Are Driving You Crazy to help people find a way to free people from the negative habits that continued to plague them and move forward. In 2001, his Marital Myths: A Fresh Look at Two Dozen Mistaken Beliefs about Marriage which talks about the myths that people have as they go into marriage that will impact their marriage. Arnold Lazarus has written many other books for academic use. Current Work In Psychology/Impact on Psychology Lazarus continues to work with clients in private practice and to influence the world of psychotherapy. He has written hundreds of articles on all different types of psychotherapy attempting to prove that there is something that people are missing. As an example, an article in the American Journal of Psychotherapy suggested that all psychotherapy should have a scientific basis and that "new age" therapies area "most unfortunate development" because they are not the best match for clients (Lazarus, 2000, p. 154). In developing Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Multimodal Therapy he has helped therapists provide "short-term" therapy which has shortened the time that an individual has to stay in therapy with certain disorders. Conclusion Arnold Lazarus is a contemporary clinical psychologist who has worked diligently to improve conditions for people who need therapy. He has been a pioneer and in many cases a rebel, challenging the traditional methods of therapy to improve the environment for his clients. Today he runs the Lazarus Institute which seems to be a family owned and operated in Skillman, New Jersey. According to their website their mission is "to provide the highest quality, scientifically grounded, outpatient, nonmedical, mental health services". In doing so, the institute provides over 50 years of service to the scientific and psychotherapy communities. References Alic, M. (2001). Lazarus, Arnold Allan (1932-). BNET/ Find Articles. Retrieved July 11, 2009 from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g2699/is_0005/ai_2699000528/. Jenkins, D. and Palmer S. (2003). A multimodal assessment and rational emotive behavioral approach to stress counseling: a case study. Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 16 (3) 265-87. Retrieved July 12, 2009 from EBSCOhost CINAHL database. [AN: 2004132105]. Lazarus, A.A. (1961). Group therapy of phobic disorders by systematic desensitization. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 63(3), 1961. pp. 504-510. Retrieved July 11, 2009 from EBSCOhost PsyINFO database [psyINFO ID: 1963-01440-001]. Lazarus, A. A. (1983). Distorting the point: A reply to Wolpe. American Psychologist, 38(9), pp. 1028. Retrieved July 14, 2009 from EBSCOhost psyINFO database [psyINFO ID: 1984-10188- 001]. Lazarus, A.A. (1984). In the Minds Eye. NY: Guilford Press. Lazarus, A.A. (2000). Will reason prevail? From classic psychoanalysis to new age therapy. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 52(2), 152-5. Retrieved July 12, 2009 from Research Library ProQuest Database [Document ID: 57007283]. Lazarus, A.A. ( 2009). Multimodal Therapy. Video. Retrieved July 14, 2009 from Psychotherapy.net through YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvIxUgRRI2I Novel Guide. (2009). Arnold A Lazarus. Retrieved July 12 from http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/gep_01/gep_01_00380.html. Stricker, G. (2009). Commentary on The Case of Ms. Q: A Contribution to Psychotherapy Integration Pragmatic Case Studies in Psychotherapy, 5, pp. 43-51. Retrieved July 14, 2009 from http://pcsp.libraries.rutgers.edu/index.php/pcsp/article/view/959/2356 The Lazarus Institute (2009). Dr. Arnold Lazarus. Retrieved July 12, 2009 from http://www.thelazarusinstitute.com/index.html. Wolpe, Joseph (1972). Review of Behavior Therapy and Beyond. Professional Psychology, 3(4),. pp. 390-392. Retrieved July 14, 2009 from EBSCOhost psyINFO database [psyINFO AN: 2005-10333-017]. Biography of Arnold Lazarus Outline I. Early Years A. Birth in South Africa B. Early Education II. Development Of Psychological Methodologies A. Behavior Therapy 1. What It Is and His Impact on Psychotherapy B. Desensitization Techniques What It Is And His Impact On Psychotherapy 1. C. Multi-Modal Therapy 1. What It Is and His Impact on Psychotherapy Important Books D. Behavior Therapy And Beyond (1971) E. I Can If I Want To (1975) F. In The Minds Eye: The Power Of Imagery For Personal Enrichment G. Dont Believe It For A Minute: Forty Toxic Ideas That Are Driving You Crazy III. Current Work In Psychology IV. Impact On Psychology V. Conclusion Read More