e behavioural approach to treating phobias

• Systematic desensitisation An individual is taught through classical conditioning to associate the phobic stimuli with a new response e.g. relaxation instead of fear.
• Systematic desensitisation- Usually clients are given special training in deep relaxation techniques until they can rapidly achieve muscle relaxation on command.
• They then create an anxiety hierarchy each stimuli increasing in anxiety. The client works through the hierarchy from least feared to most feared using the relaxation techniques until the feared situation fails to evoke anxiety
• systematic desensitisation- Eventually the learnt response (relaxation) replaces the feared response. This may take several attempts.
• (-) However Ohmen et al suggested SD may not be as effective in treating phobias that have an underlying evolutionary survival component
• (-) ohmen- This is because we are innately programmed to fear these things in order to enhance survival in our evolutionary past.
• Flooding The patient is flooded with immediate exposure to the phobic stimuli without any gradual build up e.g in a room with lots of spiders all at once
• Flooding stops the phobic responses quickly because the patient is unable to avoid the phobia in the flooding situation, and therefore the irrational avoidant behaviour is stopped and the patient realises that the phobic stimuli is harmless.
• (+) Flooding is More practical This is because flooding requires much less sessions than systematic desensitisation because it is not a gradual process.
• (+) Flooding is more time effective for people with jobs etc and also costs much less, meaning more people are likely/able to use this method to treat their phobias
• (-) Flooding- it is a much more unpleasant experience for the patient the situation can become unbearable, and if they panic and do not complete the treatment the traumatic experience could worsen the phobia.
• (-) Behavioural treatments only treat the symptoms of phobias e.g the feared response, but they do not tackle the cause of the phobia
• Overall evaluation of behavioural treatments- cognitive behaviour therapy attempts to change the patient's thought processes around the phobia which may have a more long term benefit.