Arnold Lazarus was born in 1932. He was born and educated in Johannesburg, South Africa. Although Dr. Lazarus grew up in South Africa, he strongly identified with the United States. (Corey, 2001, chap. 10)When Dr. Lazarus was a young man he viewed racism and discrimination were the views and acts of the ignorant.Dr. Lazarus received hi masters degree in experimental psychology, and later received his Ph. D. in clinical psychology. After college Dr. Lazarus went into private practice in Johannesburg. Later he held many teaching positions at several colleges and university.While Dr. Lazarus was still in graduate school he published a paper in the South African Medical Journal that described a new form of psychotherapy in behavior therapy.Lazarus was the first psychologist to apply desensitization techniques for treating phobias in group therapy sessions. (Alic, 2001, pg. 2) By the 1960s Lazarus had decided that the therapy movement he had initiated utilizing the stimulus-response mechanisms of behaviorist psychology, was too limited for effective psychotherapy.In 1971 Dr. Lazarus published a book called Behavior Therapy and Beyond, laid the foundations for what is now known as cognitive-behavior therapy.As time went by Dr. Lazarus examined long-term results of patients who had undergone cognitive-behavior therapy, he found some inadequacies. He found that patients who suffered from anxiety, panic disorders, obsessive-compulsive problems, depression, and family problems had a high percentage rate of relapse. After he discovered these problems Dr. Lazarus developed a multimodel therapy. The multimodel therapy involves examining and treating seven different but interrelated modalities. The modalities are behavior, physiology, cognition, interpersonal relationships, imagery, sensation, and affect. The goal of multimodel therapy is to provide a complete assessment of the specified to that individuals needs.Dr. Lazarus was also inte...
