Behaviourist treatments for phobias

• Identify the two treatments for phobias.

  Systematic desensitisation and flooding.
• Outline systematic desensitisation as a treatment for phobias. 1 


  Systematic desensitisation involves the gradual process of counterconditioning a person's phobia by helping them to associate their phobic stimulus with feelings of relaxation rather than fear.

  Firstly, the therapist teaches the client relaxation techniques such as deep breathing.
• Outline systematic desensitisation as a treatment for phobias. 2


  The therapist and client then create an anxiety hierarchy whereby they rank the client's feared situations regarding their phobic stimulus from least to most fearful. 

  The patient is then exposed to their least fearful point of the hierarchy where they put their relaxation techniques into practice.
• Outline systematic desensitisation as a treatment for phobias. 3 


  Once relaxed, they progress onto the next stage of the hierarchy until they can overcome their phobia by facing their most feared situation.

  If they become too distressed, they can return to an earlier stage to regain their relaxed state.
• Outline flooding as a treatment for phobias. 2

  Flooding is a more direct process of counterconditioning a person's phobia by helping them to associate their phobic stimulus with feelings of relaxation rather than fear. 

  It involves immediately exposing the client to their worst fear for an extended period of time.
• Outline flooding as a treatment for phobias. 2


  This can be in vivo (real life exposure) or in vitro (imaged or virtual reality exposure).

  This prevents them from engaging in their negatively reinforcing avoidance behaviours.
• Outline flooding as a treatment for phobias. 3 


  Due to the prolonged exposure to their phobic stimulus, they will eventually learn that it doesn't actually pose any real threat.

  This allows fear extinction to take place whereby the fear response will fade and be replaced by feelings of relaxation.
• Evaluate/compare systematic desensitisation and flooding as treatments for phobias: effective.

  E.g. research has found a 75% success rate when it came to treating phobias. In contrast, while in vivo flooding has been found to be equally as effective, in vitro flooding has been found to be less effective. This is a strength of systematic desensitisation over flooding because it suggests that clients recognise that what they see in virtual reality exposure is not real and so they cannot apply this to real life exposure.
• Evaluate/compare systematic desensitisation and flooding as treatments for phobias: unlikely to cause unnecessary distress.

  This is because it involves gradual exposure to the client's most feared situation through an anxiety hierarchy. The clients can also progress through this anxiety hierarchy at their own pace and return to earlier stages if they become too distressed. This is a strength as it means clients are less likely to drop out of the therapy, in turn increasing success rates
• Evaluate/compare systematic desensitisation and flooding as treatments for phobias: likely to cause unnecessary distress.

  This is because it involves immediate exposure to the client's most feared situation. This is a limitation because the extreme distress they may feel could cause them to drop out of the therapy, in turn decreasing success rates. Therefore adds to the effectiveness of systematic desensitisation over flooding. 
• Evaluate/compare systematic desensitisation and flooding as treatments for phobias: cost-effective treatment.

  This is because in viva flooding achieves a 75% success rate while immediately exposing the client to their worst feared situation. This means that it requires less of the therapists' time. This is a strength because it means that the NHS is better able to fund this treatment so that it can be used to treat more people.
• Evaluate/compare systematic desensitisation and flooding as treatments for phobias: less cost-effective.

  This is because it achieves the same success rate {75%) but involves gradual exposure to the client's worst feared situation so requires more of the therapists' time. This is a limitation because it means that the NHS is less able to fund this treatment and so it cannot be used to treat as many people. Therefore adds to the appropriateness of flooding over systematic desensitisation.