Stress inoculation therapy

• Stress inoculation therapy (SIT Meichenbaum and Cameron 1973) is a form of cognitive behavioural therapy developed to change how clients think about stress
• the duration of stress inoculation therapy (SIT meichenbaum and Cameron (1973) has varying duration but typically takes 9-12 1 or 1.5 hour sessions spread out in a way that is convenient to the client
• At least one or two stress inoculation therapy (SIT Meichenbaum and Cameron 1973) sessions are reserved for follow up sessions
• Stress inoculation therapy (SIT Meichenbaum and Cameron (1973)) phase one; conceptualisation in which the therapist builds a warm and collaborative rapport with the client (Meichenbaum 2007) to identify the stressors they face
• Within stress inoculation therapy (SIT Meichenbaum and Cameron 1973) the client is treated as the expert on their own stress as only they know the depth of their cognitive appraisal of stressful situations
• During stress inoculation therapy (SIT Meichenbaum and Cameron 1973) clients must develop a concept of the fact they are able to take control of stressful situations and solve them rather than hoping an external force will intervene; similar to developing an internal locus of control (Rotter 1966)
• Stress Inoculation Therapy (SIT Meichenbaum and Cameron 1973) phase two; skill acquisition and rehearsal in which the client is skills to cope with stress such as cognitive restructuring and positive self talk
• Stress inoculation therapy (SIT Meichenbaum and Cameron 1973) phase three; real life application and follow through by allowing the client to practice their skills using role play or virtual reality as well as homework or personal experiments to expose themselves to stressful situations to test skills followed by feedback and discussion with the therapist
• Relapse prevention in stress inoculation therapy (SIT Meichenbaum and Cameron 1973) helps the client to prepare themselves for inevitable setbacks and see them as learning opportunities rather than catastrophic failures
• Stress inoculation therapy (SIT Meichenbaum and Cameron 1973) strength; adaptable to the modern day as the real life application stage can incorporate VR to allow the client to test their skills
• Stress inoculation therapy (Meichenbaum and Cameron 1973) strength; research support from Saunders (1996) who conducted a meta analysis into 37 studies and found stress inoculation therapy to be useful in reducing anxiety and increasing performance in high stress situations
• Stress Inoculation Therapy (Meichenbaum and Cameron 1973) strength; flexible dependent on the client's needs as it can adapt its stress management techniques along with the frequency and duration of sessions making it applicable to many different types of clients
• Stress Inoculation Therapy (Meichenbaum and Cameron 1973) weakness; highly demanding of clients to self-reflect and develop new skills which could cause further stress for individuals who are already experiencing high stress levels who may be better off opting for lower maintenance solutions such as drug therapy
• Stress Inoculation therapy (Meichenbaum and Cameron 1973) weakness; Hensel-Ditman (2011) found that SIT was unsuccessful for asylum seekers who faced the potential of being deported who had no control over their stressor showing control as the only important aspect of sit HOWEVER this study uses an extremely limited sample so lacks generalisability