Best known for his ground breaking work on systematic desensitization and assertiveness training, Joseph Wolpe became one of the foremost theorists on Behaviorism whose tenets are grounded on the basis of observable behavior rather than focusing on the inner mental state as ascribed to by the psychoanalytic theory of Freud (Joseph Wolpe, 1). Wolpe was born on April 20, 1915 in Johannesburg, South Africa; historical records show that he lived a rather uneventful life leading up to the attainment of his doctorate degree in Psychology from the University of Witwatersrand (Joseph Wolpe, 1). It was when World War 2 started that Wolpe would be exposed to the necessary conditions that would become the basis for his theories in the future. Working as a medical officer in the psychiatric ward of a military hospital he was responsible for treating patients suffering from a form of “war neurosis” (Rosner, 183). This particular malady was characterized by high levels of anxiety, constant flashbacks, nightmares, problems falling asleep as well as sudden outbursts of anger combined with a form of hyper vigilance bordering on paranoia. It is now known that what the patients were truly suffering from at the time was PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Initial efforts using traditional means of curing the patients using various forms of drug therapy proved themselves to be largely ineffective and as a result Wolpe attempted to find an alternative means of treatment for his patients. It must be noted that while today the symptoms of PTSD can be controlled somewhat through the use of certain types of medication the fact remains that the application of drug therapy methods is usually used as a last resort due to the potential for alcohol and drug abuse that comes with PTSD. At times it has been seen that drug therapy actually worsened the condition which makes the contributions and work of Wolpe that much more important in the realm of behavioral therapy. In his attempt to find an alternative method of treatment Wolpe came up with a type of desensitization technique that placed an emphasis on the use of relaxation methods in order to deal with the resulting fear and anxiety responses that were common with “war neurosis”. Overall theorist’s concepts on mental disorders For Wolpe, the development of mental disorders was grounded in his belief that human behavior and behavioral responses can be learned and as such develops into unique/ detrimental facets of an individual’s behavior. This belief is similar to the concept of classical conditioning developed by Pavlov wherein a series of contiguous events can make an organism learn an association between one event and another which can actually create a conditional involuntary response in that organism or individual. For example in one experiment a lab technician wore the color red in front of a cat and used a portable air horn to scare the cat. The next time he approached the cat he wore a different color and did nothing however the next time he approached the cat again he wore the color red once more and used the air horn to scare the cat. This continued for one week till the cat became visibly scared by the color red when the lab technician was wearing it despite him not doing anything at all. From this it can be seen that behavioral responses to a certain event can be learned and a type of involuntary respo