Clinical Applications of Learning Theory

This book examines a variety of psychological disorders from the perspective of the psychology of learning. Grounded in the study of classical and instrumental conditioning, learning theory provides an explanatory framework for the way in which humans acquire information, and when applied, how abnormalities in learning may give rise to clinical conditions. This edited volume addresses a wide range of clinically relevant issues in chapters written by international experts in each field. Individual chapters present experimental research into the neuropsychological basis of the acquisition of fears, phobias and clinical aversions, the placebo and nocebo effects, the psychology of drug addiction and relapse following clinical treatment, as well as the role of learning in Tourette’s syndrome, depression and schizophrenia. This book will be particularly useful for undergraduate and postgraduate students of clinical psychology, behavioural neuroscience and those studying the applications of learning theory to clinical or psychiatric research.