Covert desensitization
Covert desensitization is method of gradually reducing fearful responses to stimuli and overcoming the maladaptive behaviors that often accompany fear, such as avoidance of feared situations. The client is initially trained to relax deeply so that he or she can use relaxation techniques to reduce fearful responses. One way to relax is to progressively tense then relax various muscles.
The person experiences what muscles feel like when they are truly relaxed and how to discriminate among various degrees of tension. Sometimes drugs and hypnosis are employed to help people who cannot relax otherwise.
A hierarchy of the anxiety producing situations is created then. The situations are put in order from the one that produces the least anxiety to the one that produces the most. In covert desensitization, the client is then asked to relax and imagine each situation in the hierarchy, starting from the least anxiety producing situation.