Stress Inoculation Therapy

• SIT is a form of CBT
• SIT suggests an individual should develope a form of coping before the problem arises.
• The 3 stages of SIT are:

  Conceptualisation phase

  Skills aqcuisition

  Application phase
• Conceptualisation phase -

  The therapist and client establish a relationship

  Client is encouraged to talk about their stressors

  Talk about what current strategies they use and discuss how they can be changed

  The client is taught to break down global stressors into specific components that can be dealt with
• Skills aqcuisition -

  Coping skills are taught and practised

  Skills are tailored specific to the clients problems

  Taught to use coping self-statements

  Both cognitive and behavioural skills are taught
• Application phase (and follow up) -

  Clients are given the opportunity to apply newly learned coping skills in different situations that become increasingly stressful

  Clients may be asked to train others to deal with stress

  Booster sessions are offered later on
• Effectivness -

  Saunders reviewed 37 studies on SIT effectivness and concluded that it was effective in enhancing performance under stress and reducing anxiety and it remained effective regardless of the experience of the trainer and the setting in which it was carried out
• Effectiness - One issue with SIT is that its hard to say which phase is the most effective

  Hollandsworth split dental phobics into experimental conditions which contained different components from SIT, and a control condition where patients were placed on a waiting list. Significantly more of the patients who had received some form of SIT booked another appointment

  Those in the who received training in coping skills and application of coping skills were  more likely attended the follow up than those who just received the first stage of conceptualization alone.  
• Effectivness - It is hard to measure the effectivness of therapy as clients often exaggerate their problems to be seen
• Ethical issue - SIT may cause clients distress when asking them to rehearse stressful situations
• Ethical issue - It has been found that for some people SIT can be counterproductive if the stressor is too intense
• Social implication - Stress causes people to miss work, SIT can reduce stress and therefore have a positive economical impact