Psychotherapy apparatus and method for treating undesirable emotional arousal of a patient

摘要

A psychotherapy apparatus and method provides treating of an undesirable emotional arousal of a patient through coordinated and controlled presentation of visual and auditory stimuli to the patient. The operative steps of the psychotherapy apparatus and method include presenting visual stimuli observable by a stationarily-positioned patient at right and left extremes of the patient's range of lateral eye movement, alternately switching the visual stimuli laterally between the right and left extremes of the patient's range of lateral eye movement, presenting auditory stimuli to the patient's ears, alternately switching the auditory stimuli between the patient's ears synchronously with alternately switching of the visual stimuli between the right and left extremes of the patient's range of lateral eye movement, monitoring physiological responses of the patient to the visual and auditory stimuli, and, in response to such monitoring, controlling the presenting and switching of the visual and auditory stimuli so as to elict a mental imagery of a negative experience of the patient and to eliminate the undesirable emotional arousal evoked by the negative experience and to substitute a positive experience reinforcing a desired new behavior.