This paper discusses my innovative alterations and my Islamization
of Wolpe’s systematic desensitization therapy applied during 1965
to treat a Moroccan patient. I have used this technique for the last
fifty years; however, this is the first time I have described it in full
detail. My main modifications were to (1) ask the patient to speak
out loudly when detailing what she was imagining in order to enhance
her involvement and her ability to imagine vividly; (2) encourage
her to “horizontally” imagine and speak about other scenes
of comparable anxiety-provoking instances to facilitate the transfer
from clinic to real life. In fact, this turned out to be one of the earliest
attempts to transform classical behavior therapy to cognitive therapy.
American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences