,L Behav. Ther. & Exp. Psychiat. Vot. 6 p. 169. PergamonPress, 1975. Printed in Great Britain.

USE OF A COVERT P U N I S H I N G C O N T I N G E N C Y IN
COMPULSIVE STEALING

LAWRENCE S. GUIDRY*
V.A. Hospital, New Orleans

Summary--A client with a stealing compulsion of 10 yr duration was treated by using covert
behavior modification techniques including a covert aversive contingency and an awareness
training procedure. After treatment and at a 10-month follow-up the stealing behavior was
brought under control and virtually eliminated.

DURING the past 10 yr there has been an increasing
utilization of covert behavior modification techniques
(Cautela, 1967, 1970; Homme, 1965; Guidry and Ran-
dolph, 1974). This movement began when Homme in
1965 extended the analysis of behavior to include covert
events. In the present case of compulsive stealing,
sequences were directly linked to punishing consequences
by imaginal practice, and the aversiveness of the con-
sequences was increased by the client systematically
dwelling on them in imagination whenever he entered
or left a car.
CASE HISTORY
A bright, white married male in his twenties came for
treatment of long-standing high probability stealing
behavior. The frequency of stealing in the ten yr preceding
treatment was about twice per month. While in military
service the client had sought psychiatric help in an attempt
to eliminate the problem, and was advised to carry a
check with him at all times to insure that he would be
able to pay if caught. Not surprisingly, the stealing
behavior was unabated.
A subsidiary method was used to increase the potency
of aversive consequences. A list of negative repercussions
of stealing was assembled, e.g. being caught, the police
being called, being handcuffed, being put in the police
car and driven to central lockup, standing before a
judge, parents finding out about his arrest. The client
was instructed systematically to imagine these items
whenever he got into or out of his car. These actions were
cues to remind him, to practice. These negative conse-
quences were also discussed during several treatment
sessions at which time the association between stealing
and these aversive consequences was explored. Both
procedures were given as assignments to be practiced
during the day.
The client was seen once a week for 4 weeks then
once a month for 3 months. During this period the
stealing behavior dropped to zero. On a 10-month
follow-up questionnaire the client indicated that he still
got urges but stated, "I feel a sense of responsibility
that I didn't feel before". He also stated that he felt he
might get caught. He had taken petty items on two
occasions when he knew he would not get caught, but
the frequency had remained near zero.

METHOD
Two measures were combined to treat the problem.
The main procedure was similar to that of Davison
0969) who utilized the father's angry mood as the
imagined punishing contingency to modify a child's
maladaptive behavior. In the present study an imagined
stealing sequence was followed by an imagined aversive
consequence, i.e. the client would imagine himself in a
store having an urge to take an item and then imagine
an aversive occurence, e.g. getting caught or realizing
that the manager was in the rear of the store watching
him. He was also asked to imagine himself wearing a
remote control radio that sounded as he got ready to
steal an item. Between sessions he was to go into stores,
walk up and down the aisles, stop, and imagine someone
was watching him from the back of the store.
*Requests for reprints should be addressed to: Lawrence S. Guidry, Psychology Service, V.A. Hospital, New Orleans,
La. 70146.
REFERENCES
CAUTELA J. (1967) Covert sensitization, Psychol. Rep.
20, 459-468.
CAUTELA J. (1970) Covert reinforcement, Behav. Therapy
1, 33-50.
DAVlSON G. (1969) Self control through "imaginal
aversive contingency" and "one downmanship" (Edited
by KRUMBOLTZ J, and THORESEN C.), Behavioral
counseling: cases and techniques, pp. 319-327, Holt,
Rinehart & Winston, New York.
GUIDRY L. S. and RANDOLPH D. (1974) Covert reinforce-
ment in the treatment of test anxiety, J. counseling
Psychol. 21, 260-266.
HOMME L. (1965) Perspectives in psychology: control of
coverents, the operants of the mind, Psychol. Rec.
15, 501-511.

169