flooding

• flooding - a behavioural therapy exposes the individual with a phobia to the anxiety inducing stimulus immediately.
• The intense exposure in flooding is done over an extended period of time in a safe and controlled manner
• During flooding, the individual is unable to avoid their phobia through continuous exposure, and anxiety levels eventually decrease. This will lead to extinction of the phobia, because fear will eventually subside
• As the fear of the phobic stimulus exhausts, the individual may feel a sense of calm and relief which creates a new positive association to the stimulus
• AO3. A strength of flooding is that it provides a cost effective treatment for phobias. Research suggests that it is equally effective to other treatments, including systematic desensitisation and cognition therapies, but takes much less time in achieving these positive results. This shows that patients can cure their phobias more quickly and it is therefore more cost effective for health service providers that cannot fund other options
• AO3. Although flooding is cost effective, it can be highly traumatic for patients since it purposefully elicits a high level of anxiety. Wolpe recalled a case with a patient becoming so intensely anxious that she required hospitalisation. Although it is not unethical, as patients provide fully informed consent, many do not complete their treatment as it is too stressful. This means that flooding treatment can be a waste of time and money if patients do not complete their whole treatment.