Systematic Desensitisation

• Which behaviourist assumptions apply to systematic desensitisation?

  Classical conditioning
• What type of conditioning is most relevant to systematic desensitisation?

  Counterconditioning
• What are we supposed to learn about the main components (principles) of systematic desensitisation?

  There are 50
• What should be done with effectiveness in evaluation?

  Research support
• What should be done with ethical issues in evaluation?

  Consider them
• What is the main assumption of the behaviourist approach regarding behaviour?

  All behaviour is learned
• What principles do behaviorist therapies utilize to help people unlearn behaviors?

  Classical and operant conditioning
• What is the underlying principle behind behavioral therapies concerning mental illness?

  Mental illness is caused by faulty learning
• According to behaviorist therapies, what is "behaviour modification?"

  Re-learning to behave in a healthier way
• On what type of conditioning is systematic desensitisation based?


  Classical conditioning principles
• What type of disorders is systematic desensitisation used to treat?

  Phobic disorders
• Who developed systematic desensitisation?

  Joseph Wolpe
• What does systematic desensitisation assume about a client's association with a phobic object?

  They associate it with fear
• What is the core idea of counterconditioning in systematic desensitisation?

  Associating the phobic object with relaxation
• What is the concept of reciprocal inhibition?

  Inability to experience contrasting emotions simultaneously
• How does operant conditioning reinforce progress in systematic desensitisation?

  Relaxation is rewarding, encouraging further progress
• What are the steps of systematic desensitisation?

  • Learn to relax muscles completely
  • Construct a desensitisation hierarchy
  • Work through the hierarchy while relaxing
  • Move to the next step after mastering one
  • Master the feared situation
• What creates a block to re-experiencing the feared stimulus?

  The anxiety the stimulus creates
• What did Joseph Wolpe develop to treat phobias?

  Gradual introduction to a feared stimulus
• How should the patient work through the desensitisation hierarchy?

  By visualising each event while relaxing
• When is a patient ready to move to the next step in the hierarchy?

  When they can remain relaxed while imagining
• What new stimulus-response link is the eventual aim in systematic desensitisation?

  From fear to relaxation
• What is being taught when the client is taught a new association that runs counter to the original association?

  Counterconditioning
• According to Wolpe, what inhibits the anxiety in reciprocal inhibition?

  Relaxation
• What is created at the beginning of therapy in systematic desensitisation?

  A desensitisation hierarchy
• According to classical conditioning, how can neutral stimuli provoke anxiety?

  Association with a distressing event
• What is included in a desensitisation hierarchy?

  Feared stimuli from least to most fearful
• What does UCS stand for?

  Unconditioned stimulus
• What does UCR stand for?

  Unconditioned response
• What does CS stand for?

  Conditioned stimulus
• What does NS stand for?

  Neutral stimulus
• What does CR stand for?

  Conditioned response
• What does counterconditioning involve?

  Establishing an incompatible response to a CS
• What is in vivo desensitisation?

  Confronting feared situations directly
• What is in vitro desensitisation also known as?

  Covert desensitisation
• According to research, which exposure technique is most successful?

  In vivo techniques
• Besides in vivo and covert, what other exposure technique is sometimes used?

  Modelling
• What is self-administered SD used for?

  Social phobia
• Who researched modeling exposure techniques?

  Comer (2002)
• Who researched in vivo vs. covert techniques?

  Menzies and Clarke (1993)