Behavioural therapy

• Two types

  Systematic desensitisation

  Flooding
• Stages of systematic desensitisation

  1. Counter-conditioning so person learns to associate stimulus with relaxation
  2. Person makes fear hierachy
  3. Work from smallest fear to biggest fear
  4. Taught relaxation techniques
  5. Patient imagines anxiety provoking situations
  6. Become relax as they are no longer scared
  7. Process is repeated for each stage of hierachy
• Stages of flooding:

  • Involves exposing patient to the phobic stimulus straight away without any relaxation.
  • Done in real-life or visualisation
  • Kept in situation until anxiety wears off
• Advantages of behavioural therapy

  • Effective for treating specific phobias
  • Zinbarg et al found systematic desensitisation was the most effective of currently known treatment for phobias
  • Works very quickly
  • Ost et al found fear of phobia reduced 90% after one session
• Disadvantages of behavioural therapy

  • Ethical issues as it causes patients a lot of anxiety
  • If patient drops out before end of therapy they could be worse than started
  • Only treats symptoms of disorder not the cause