AO1 - Systematic Desensitisation

• Aim: To use classical conditioning to unlearn a maladaptive behavioural response to a phobic stimulus (feared situation or object)
• 1. The patient is taught how to relax using muscle relaxation techniques or breathing exercises
• 2. The patient works with the therapist to make a graded scale starting with the stimuli that scared them the least to those that scare them the most
• 3. For example, someone with a phobia of wasps might put a picture of a wasp at the bottom of the scale and put being in a room with a wasp at the top of the scale
• 4. The client is gradually exposed to the least feared situation, they may feel anxious but are encouraged to put the relaxation techniques into place

  • this is known as reciprocal inhibition - two incompatible states of mind cannot co-exist at the same time, e.g. relaxation and anxiety
• 5. Once the client is relaxed, they are then exposed to the next stage of the hierarchy - this is a gradual process and the client only moves beyond each stage when they are relaxed
• 6. The patient completes treatment when they are desensitised and can move through the hierarchy without anxiety