Treating phobias

• What is systematic desensitisation?

  -the patient and therapist create an anxiety hierarchy

  -relaxation techniques are used

  -gradual exposure to the phobic stimulus
• What is an anxiety hierarchy?

  A list of situations that provoke anxiety arranged in order from least to most frightening
• What is flooding?

  -no gradual exposure to phobic stimulus

  -immediate exposure to a very frightening situation

  -patient learns the phobic stimulus is harmless as there is no option for avoidance behaviour
• Evaluate the use of systematic desensitisation.?

  -Gilroy (2003)

  -natural experiment

  -at both 3 and 33 months after therapy, the SD group were less fearful of spiders than the control group who were treated by relaxation without exposure

  -this suggests that SD is effective

  -however it is time consuming and expensive for multiple sessions
• Evaluate the use of flooding.?

  -cost effective (uses less sessions than SD)

  -ethical issues: can cause extreme trauma and runs the risk of worsening the phobia