TREATING PHOBIAS

• What is flooding?

  where the patient is exposed to their phobic stimulus all at once
• How does flooding work?

  through unavoidable exposure and extinction
• what is unavoidable exposure?

  the patient is not allowed to engage with their avoidance behaviour, forcing them to experience the conditioned stimulus without the unconditioned stimulus paired with is
• what is extinction?

  the association between the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned response being broken. the CS returns to being a neutral stimulus
• Strengths of flooding

  research found that 75% of patients were successfully cured of their phobia

  Only takes one session, so quick and cost effective
• limitations of flooding

  Does not work well for all types of phobia, research found it is not useful for social phobias

  The therapy can be traumatic, sometimes it makes the phobia even worse
• What is systematic desensitisation?

  a therapy that aims to gradually reduce anxiety through counterconditioning
• how does systematic desensitisation work?

  the conditioned stimulus (phobia) is paired with relaxation techniques which becomes the new conditioned response
• what is reciprocal inhibition?

  it is not possible to be afraid or relaxed at the same time, so relaxation blocks the anxiety
• what is counter conditioning?

  a new association is formed, the phobic stimulus is associated with relaxation instead of a traumatic event
• what is step one of systematic desensitisation?

  Building a hierarchy

  the patient makes a list of objects that trigger their phobia and arranges them from least to most frightening
• what is step two of systematic desensitisation?

  relaxation techniques

  the therapist teaches the patient techniques such as deep breathing
• what is step three of systematic desensitisation?

  gradual exposure

  starting with the least frightening stimulus, the patient is exposed slowly to the stimuli that scare them. They use the relaxation techniques and only move up the hierarchy once they feel completely calm
• Strengths of systematic desensitisation

  research support - a researcher studied 42 patients who were treated for a spider phobia, they were compared to a control group who were only taught relaxation techniques, 3 years later the systematic desensitisation group were less fearful than the control group

  more suitable than flooding in some situations - age, ethical ect

  can be self administered
• weaknesses of systematic desensitisation

  costly as takes a long time