Flooding

• One strength of flooding is it provides a cost-effective treatment for phobias.
• Ougrin (2011) suggested that flooding is comparable to other treatments, including systematic desensitisation and cognitive therapies.
• In flooding patients are treated quicker, so it is more cost effective for health service providers.
• Flooding is less ethical than other treatments, as they is a greater risk of psychological harm.
• Flooding can be highly traumatic for some patients, causing high levels of anxiety.
• Although patients provide informed consent, many do not complete their treatment because the experience is too stressful.
• Flooding is highly effective for simple (specific) phobias.
• Flooding is less effective for other types of phobia, including social phobia and agoraphobia.
• Other treatments like cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) are more effective.
• Flooding can work in as little as one session.
• Schumacher et al (2015) found that patients and therapists rated flooding as significantly more stressful than SD.
• Participant attrition (drop-out) is higher for flooding.
• Persons (1986) suggest that behavioural therapies only mask the symptoms, they do not treat the underlying issues.
• Individual differences play a role in the effectiveness of flooding.