1. A condition in which the action of one group of a pair of antagonistic muscles is inhibited by the excitation of the other group, as when the biceps are prevented from contracting and bending the arm at the elbow while the triceps are extending the arm; a result of reciprocal innervation.
2. The inhibition of an anxiety-provoking response by the practice of deep muscle relaxation.
3. Behavior therapy in which the patient is exposed to anxiety-producing stimuli while in a controlled state of relaxation so that the anxiety response is gradually inhibited.

In psychiatry, a form of behavior therapy in which the patient, while made to relax in comfortable surroundings, is gradually exposed to increasing amounts of anxiety-provoking stimuli.

In this way the patient can tolerate these stimuli and may eventually learn to dissociate the anxiety from them.