This book owes its existence to an ideal, a burning frustration, and a trusted believer. The ideal was the sense that governed my feelings about systematic desensitization during my early introduction to its benefits. It is hard to put into words the initial doubts that pervaded me during my first attempt with desensitization with a seriously phobic client, as I re ligiously worked my way through the procedure: "Will this client really become relaxed? And then what-will the visualization actually occur? And then what-will the fear really vanish, just like that?" And oh, the feeling of...