AO3 flooding

• cost effective - only requires one session compared to other treatments that require a course of sessions and a therapist e.g. CBT. Hence is cheaper and patient is free from symptoms quickly.
• ineffective - do not actually treat underlying cause of phobia. they only address behavioural symptoms, psychologists argue by not addressing the cause it will result in symptom substitution which is where removing one phobia will resurface another phobia. Hence, psychologists suggest behavioural therapies are only short term solutions and not completely effective.
• inappropriate - due to intense traumatic nature of experience. however not unethical as patients give informed consent but trauma may lead to patients quitting during treatment so has high drop out rate. hence, not suitable for everyone and will not lead to reduction in symptoms. additionally may mean time and money is wasted.