Response-Disequilibrium Therapy: Clinical Case Studies

Abstract

Basic learning theorists developed the response-disequilibrium model to resolve the long-standing psychological puzzle of how to specify in advance the circumstances that will yield reinforcement effects. The model explains the behavioral changes in reinforcement effects as predictable adaptations to external constraints on the free-baseline levels of those behaviors. Here we introduce response-disequilibrium therapy (RDx), a clinical intervention based on this model. We present a series of clinical case studies using RDx to treat obsessive-compulsive disorders, report highly favorable results in comparison with the standard therapy, and discuss the implications.