evaluation of behavioural treatments for phobias

• strengths

  • gilroy et al. (2003) = assessed the effectiveness of desensitisation as a treatment for people with a phobia of spider
  • group 1 received desensitisation therapy for their phobia. group 2 were the control group and has 'relaxation without exposure'
  • after 3 and 33 months the SD group were less fearful on a spider phobia questionnaire than the control group
• strengths

  supporting research for effectiveness of flooding

  • wolpe (1973) reported a case study of a girl who was scared of cars
  • he took her in a car and drive her around for hours
  • initially the girl was panicky but eventually calmed down when realised that her situation was safe. from then on she associated a sense of ease with cars
• strengths

  behavioural therapies are appropriate for a wide range of patients

  • they don't require the patient to reflect on their own thoughts, or to take an active part in the therapy
  • for some patients (eg. with learning difficulties) this may be easier than more complex therapies eg, CBT
• limitations

  systematic desensitisation does not always work

  • wolpe (1973) attempted (unsuccessfully) to use systematic desensitisation to treat a women's fear of insects
  • it turned out that her (estranged) husband had an insect nickname
  • her 'fear' was simply a displacement of her marital problems - irrational thoughts
  • by focussing on one level of explanation, behaviourism may miss out on more suitable explanations and treatments
• limitations

  behavioural treatments (especially flooding) may raise ethical issues

  • the treatments can be very traumatic for patients, and although they have consented, it may expose them to psychological harm
  • the stress caused by being exposed to the object of the phobia can also sometimes leas to high refusal rates which can be a waste of time and money.