Dr. Nathan Azrin was a professor at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He received his Ph.D. under B. F. Skinner at Harvard University in 1956. Dr. Azrin began his career doing basic laboratory research in operant conditioning, and later shifted to applied psychology. He was a pioneer in establishing the field of applied behavior analysis, and many of the treatment/training programs he developed are now in widespread use. Specific examples are the token economy or point reward program (with Dr. Teodoro Ayllon); time-out; and effective self-care programs for retarded persons including toilet training, nocturnal enuresis, dressing, mealtime skills, self-stimulation, aggression, and self-injury. He also developed programs for non-retarded persons including those addressing alcoholism, drug use, medication adherence, tics, stuttering, Tourette disorder, trichotillomania, marital dysfunction, classroom management, toilet training, nocturnal enuresis, the job club method for securing employment for the chronically unemployed, parent-youth problems, and major depressive disorder. The great diversity of problems he studied reflects his conviction that applied behavior analysis is a rich conceptual strategy with unlimited avenues for treatment applicability.
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