systematic desensitization

noun

1. psychol a treatment of phobias in which the patient while relaxed is exposed, often only in imagination, to progressively more frightening aspects of the phobia

Example Sentences

Trauma-focused CBT and behavioral therapies such as aversion therapy and systematic desensitization are subsets under the umbrella of cognitive behavioral therapy.

From Los Angeles Times

To acclimate a dog to such conditions requires training, she said, “slowly inducing stressful situations, doing a systematic desensitization of being in close proximity.”

From Seattle Times