AO3

• systematic desensitisation is not effective in treating all phobias. Patients with phobias which have not developed through a personal experience (classical conditioning) for example, a fear of heights, are not effectively treated using systematic desensitisation. Some psychologists believe that certain phobias, like heights, have an evolutionary survival benefit and are not the result of personal experience, but the result of evolution. These phobias highlight a limitation of systematic desensitisation which is ineffective in treating evolutionary phobias.
• Further support comes from Gilroy et al. (2002) who examined 42 patients with arachnophobia (fear of spiders). Each patient was treated using three 45-minute systematic desensitisation sessions. When examined three months and 33 months later, the systematic desensitisation group were less fearful than a control group (who were only taught relaxation techniques). This provides further support for systematic desensitisation, as a long-term treatment for phobias.
• Flooding is not appropriate for older people, people with heart conditions, children, or abuse victims due to ethical concerns, whereas systematic desensitisation is ethically suitable for almost all people. There are ethical concerns as flooding exposes participants to emotional harm, and it could also end up reinforcing the phobia if treatment is ended too soon.