Flooding

• A strength of flooding is that it presents an unavoidable exposure to the individual with the phobia and this reflects what can often happen in real life. This suggests that this therapy better prepares individuals for occasions when they may be confronted unexpectedly with the phobic stimulus. Therefore, the therapy has high ecological validity as it can be argued to prepare patients more for potential real-life situations.
• Flooding is not unethical as patients give fully informed consent about the procedure, however, since it is a very traumatic experience, it is likely for patients to withdraw during the process and this can make their phobia worse. This is a weakness of the therapy as this only reinforces the anxiety surrounding the phobic stimulus and so time and money are sometimes wasted preparing patients only to have them refuse completing the treatment.