aversion therapy

British

noun

psychiatry a method of suppressing an undesirable habit, such as excessive smoking, by causing the subject to associate an unpleasant effect, such as an electric shock or nausea, with the habit

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

About 15 years ago, Australian scientists designed a kind of aversion therapy.

From Science Magazine • Oct. 11, 2023

When I finish an episode, I feel like I’ve just wrapped a session of aversion therapy.

From Slate • Mar. 6, 2020

Burgs tells me his silent retreats and meditation courses are a form of aversion therapy, whereby people can confront their fear of doing nothing until it eventually dissipates.

From The Guardian • Dec. 27, 2019

BBC News NI has accessed a research paper on electrical aversion therapy published in the Ulster Medical Journal in 1973 which was co-authored by the psychologist.

From BBC • Oct. 24, 2019

"In fact we rarely use electrical aversion therapy, at least as a treatment of first choice, with any of the patients referred to our clinic."

From BBC • Sep. 30, 2019

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023