Pergamon J. Behav. Ther & Exp. Psychiat. Vol. 27, No. 3, pp. 299-310,1996 Copyright © 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in Great Britain. All tights reserved S0005-7916(96)00033-X 0005-7916/96 $15.00 + 0.00 THE BEHAVIORAL TREATMENT OF AUDITORY HALLUCINATORY RESPONDING OF A SCHIZOPHRENIC PATIENT J. M. JIMENEZ,* M. TODMAN,t M. PEREZ,* J. F. GODOY* and D. V. LANDON-JIMENEZ$ *Departamento de Personalidad, Evaluaci6n y Tratamiento Psicol6gico, Universidad de Granada, Campus Universitario de Cartuja, 18071 Granada, Spain 1"Department of Psychology, New School for Social Research, New York, U.S.A. SDepartment of Psychology, Queens College and the Graduate School of the City University of New York, NYC, New York, U.S.A. Summary -- This study assessed the efficacy of a behaviorally based treatment package to decrease the frequency of verbal responding to auditory hallucinations and to increase attention to important external stimuli, rather than to the hallucinations. The subject, a 49-year-old male, with a 20-year history of auditory hallucinatory responding (AHR), laughing and talking to himself, was seen in an outpatient clinic. Observations were made during management skill training, given usually twice a week. Observation sessions were divided into 15- minute intervals. The intervention package included reinforcement in the form of praise, pats on the back, and token reinforcement contingent on the absence of auditory hallucinations. Cancellation tests were given to measure his ability to attend to external tasks. Using an ABCAD design, it was seen that the data indicated that the intervention resulted in both a sharp decrease in auditory hallucinations and an increase in the subject's ability to attend to external tasks. Copyright © 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd One of the most problematic behaviors exhibited by people diagnosed with psychiatric disorders is that of responding to voices that are not heard by others. Auditory hallucinations have been one of the most frequently noted characteristics through this century of one type of schizophrenia (Bleuler, 1912; Kraeplin, 1919; Bellak, 1948; Arieti, 1974, 1977; Bentall, 1990; IDC-10/WHO, 1992; DSM-R/APA, 1987). One explanation of the occurrence of hallucinatory behavior has been suggested by Slade (1976). He recommended performing a functional analysis of the variables which may Requests for reprints should be addressed to J. M. Jimenez, Departamento de Personalidad, Evaluaci6n y Tratamiento Psicol6gico, Universidad de Granada, Campus Universitario de Cartuja, 18071 Granada, Spain. 299