treating phobias

• the behavioural approach can be used to help treat phobias
• systematic desensitisation is a behavioural treatment of phobias that involves creating a hierarchy of anxiety-provoking situations related to the phobic stimulus, teaching the person to relax and exposing them to phobic situations one at a time
• flooding is a type of behavioural therapy involved in treating phobias, consisting of exposing someone to an extreme form of the phobic stimulus in order to reduce the anxiety caused by the stimulus and prevent avoidance. this takes place in a small number of long therapy sessions.
• limitation of Flooding is that it can be extremely traumatic - this means dropout rates are higher than systematic desensitisation, making it a less effective treatment of phobias
• strength of systematic desensitisation - Gilroy et al followed up 42 people who received SD for a spider phobia. The people who had been treated with SD were less fearful than a control group treated with relaxation but not exposure
• strength of flooding - cost effective - can work in as little as 1 session - saves NHS money
• strength of systematic desensitisation - is effective at treating phobias for those who have learning disabilities. those with learning disabilities often find it hard to engage in cognitive therapies as they require complex rational thinking. they may also find flooding distressing and traumatic. shows that systematic desensitisation is the best option for treating phobias in a range of different people