Psychology wjec

• Systematic desensitisation (SD)


  Means ‘step by step, making you less sensitive’
• Systematic desensitisation (SD)

  1. Step 1: Teaching the client relaxation techniques

  2. Step 2: Constructing an individual anxiety hierarchy

  3. Step 3: Bringing relaxation techniques and anxiety hierarchy together
• Step 1 of SD

  Teaching the client a range of relaxation techniques to establish a new stimulus-response link to the phobic object
• Counter-conditioning


  • The client learns a new, more adaptive association which replaces the old maladaptive response
• Reciprocal inhibition

  • The relaxation inhibits (prevents) the anxiety
• Step 2 of SD

  Constructing an individual anxiety hierarchy starting with the least feared scenario and working towards the most feared scenario
• In-vivo desensitisation


  • The client confronts the phobic object or situation in real life
• In-vitro desensitisation


  • The client is asked to ‘imagine’ the phobic object or situation
• Step 3 of SD

  Bringing the relaxation techniques and anxiety hierarchy together and working up the anxiety hierarchy from least to most anxiety-provoking step
• Systematic desensitisation is only complete when

  The process of classical conditioning has been successful and the client is able to reach the top step of the anxiety hierarchy
• Unlearning process

  • The client has unlearnt the maladaptive response to the feared object/situation (fear) and replaced it with the more adaptive learned response of calm and relaxation
• Counter-conditioning

  • The process of replacing the maladaptive response with a more adaptive response
• The behaviourist approach


  Assumes that the underlying cause of all normal behaviour is through learning (conditioning)
• Classical conditioning


  New behaviour is learnt through a process of association, whereby an unconditioned stimulus becomes associated with a neutral stimulus, learning the same response to both
• Operant conditioning assumption

  Behaviour is learned through reinforcement
• The behaviourist approach


  Assumes that the cause of abnormal behaviour is a result of maladaptive faulty learning
• Classical conditioning


  Individual will actively avoid situations whereby they may be exposed to the phobic object (spider)
• Avoidance acts as a reinforcement


  They feel calm and happy when avoiding the spider
• Systematic desensitisation

  Aims to break down faulty maladaptive learning and help the person re-learn a more functional response using the principles of classical conditioning
• Systematic desensitisation


  Aims to gradually and systematically break down the faulty association (i.e. fear) and replace it with a more functional response (relaxation), known as counter-conditioning
• Operant conditioning

  Key to this therapy as the client progresses through an anxiety hierarchy, feeling more and more relaxed in the presence of the phobic object (e.g. a spider), which becomes reinforcing
• Positive reinforcement


  Encourages the client to keep moving up the hierarchy until they no longer associate fear but rather relaxation with the phobic object
• Effectiveness of Systematic Desensitisation (SD)

  • SD appears to be an effective treatment for specific phobias
  • SD is not always effective; it can be quite ineffective for some phobias
• Research was carried out by Rothbaum et al. (2000) who used SD to treat participants with a phobia of flying
• Rothbaum compared participants with a phobia of flying who received SD against a control group who did not
• Following SD, 93% of participants with a phobia of flying agreed to take a trial flight and had much lower levels of anxiety than the control group
• Positive effects of SD were found 6 months after treatment
• Patients who engage with SD show lower levels of anxiety when faced with their phobic scenario compared to patients who do not complete SD


  This is evidence that therapy works and the effects are apparent immediately as well as some time after therapy is completed
• It is unclear how long the positive effects of SD lasted for beyond the 6 months after treatment
• SD does not universally work for all types of phobias, especially patients with phobias that have not evolved due to personal experiences (classical conditioning)
• For example, heights are not effectively treated by SD
• Phobias such as heights have an evolutionary survival benefit and therefore cannot be treated using the principles of conditioning (learning)
• SD is ineffective, especially if the phobic object has some sort of evolutionary survival benefit
• SD therapy


  1. Valid consent is obtained from the client before SD can begin

  2. The client is able to withdraw from the therapy at any point during the process

  3. Introduction of relaxation techniques means clients rarely feel distress
• SD therapy

  • More ethical than other therapies
  • Increases the individual's feeling of control
  • Therapist guides and helps the client without playing the central role
  • Puts the client at the heart of the therapy
  • Client dictates the pace of the therapy and is not coerced
  • Therapist is external to the therapy, reducing the risk of dependence or attribution of success to the therapist
• SD therapy is


  • Very effective for specific phobias
  • Ethically sound
  • Offers a safe way for clients to face their phobia and improve their lives
• Questions are raised regarding the universal application of SD therapy to all phobias and other mental illnesses
• Critics argue that SD therapy does not address the root cause of the phobia, limiting its long-term success
• Biological approach


  Assumes that all psychological behaviour is the result of physical, rather than psychological, processes
• Medical model


  States that all psychological illnesses should be treated with physiological rather than psychological methods