Aversion Therapy

• Aversion Therapy


  Behaviourist therapy that aims to induce a negative association with an undesirable behaviour
• How aversion therapy work / main components


  1. Client undergoes medical examination

  2. Therapist educates client on how therapy will work

  3. Client gives informed consent to proceed
• Antabuse


  Drug used in aversion therapy for alcoholism that causes unpleasant symptoms when combined with alcohol
• Counter-conditioning


  The process where the addictive behaviour becomes associated with feelings of disgust or aversion, reducing the desire to engage in it
• Covert sensitisation


  A type of aversion therapy that uses the client's imagination rather than actual aversive stimuli
• Aversion therapy has been refined with drugs that make users sick when mixed with alcohol but also reward abstinence
• Operant conditioning


  The use of reinforcement and punishment to encourage or discourage behaviours
• Aversion therapy employs principles of both classical and operant conditioning
• The behaviourist approach assumes all behaviour is learned from the environment
• Aversion therapy aims to break down faulty learned associations and help the person relearn a more functional response
• Aversion therapy can be used to treat variety addictions;

  • drug & alcohol abuse
  • sexual behaviour
  • nail biting
  • gambling
  • smoking
• Individuals presented with an aversive - unpleasant - stimulus like a shock or drug inducing nausea at the same time they engage in undesirable behaviours
• Antabuse to counter-condition an alcohol addiction;


  Before Conditioning

  UCS (Antabuse) -> UCR (avoidance/sickness)

  NS (alcohol) -> no response

  During Conditioning

  UCS (Antabuse) + NS (alcohol) -> UCR (avoidance/sickness)

  After Conditioning

  CS (alcohol) -> CR (avoidance/sickness)
• Badawy (1999)


  discovered drugs that make users sick if mixed with alcohol but also reward abstinence by inducing feelings of tranquillity and wellbeing

  drugs known as tryptophan metabolites
• Refuting evidence - Miller (1978)

  • participants - alcoholics
  • procedure - compared effectiveness of 3 treatments (shock aversion therapy, counselling + therapy, just counselling)
  • findings - year later - recovery was the same for all groups
• Supporting evidence - Smith et al (1997)

  • participants - 249 alcoholics
  • procedure - alcoholics treated with aversion therapy
  • findings - higher abstinence rates after 1 year compared to just counselling
• Smith (1988)

  • participants - 300 smokers
  • procedures - smokers treated with shocks
  • findings - 52% maintained abstinence after 1 year
  • showing it can be successful for some people
• Issue of dropout (patient attrition)


  Bancroft (1992) reported 50% of patients refusing treatment or dropping out making it difficult to evaluate due to sample bias
• Long term effectiveness?


  these effects are not likely to transfer to the outside world when feelings of sickness or electric shocks have disappeared

  Pavlov showed that a conditioned response is extinguished when a CS is no longer paired with the UCS
• Doesn't treat the root cause


  Critics argue therapies fail to treat possible underlying causes as the behaviourist approach believes maladaptive behaviour is the disorder and therefore there are no underlying causes to be treated
• Symptom Substitution


  Engaging in another maladaptive behaviour once the initial behaviour has been dealt with is called symptom substitution
• Aversion therapy causes physical harm whereas the therapies don't as much - meaning other therapies are a lot more ethical
• Aversion therapy doesn't treat the underlying cause of the behaviour - however nor does drug therapy meaning dream analysis has a higher chance of doing so
• Aversion therapy is only so effective - supported by Smith 1988 - 52% - meaning other therapies may be more effective especially in the long run
• Ethical Issues of Aversion Therapy;

  • risk of harm - shocks and sickness
  • right to withdraw - may feel pressure to stay in the study
  • valid consent - intoxicated or drunk
  • must consider cost-benefit analysis
  • unethical - used to be used to treat homosexuality
  • form of brainwashing and control