systematic desensitisation

• o   Treatment is based on the idea that we cannot feel fear and relaxation at the same time, as the two emotions are not compatible.
• o   Number of sessions depend on the strength of the phobia.
• o   Phase 1) patient is taught a deep muscle relaxation technique and breathing exercises e.g., control over breathing or meditation.
• o   Phase 2) patient creates a fear hierarchy starting at stimuli that create the least anxiety and building up in stages to the most fear-inducing images. The list is crucial as it provides a structure for the therapy.
• o   Phase 3) patient works their way up the fear hierarchy, starting at the least unpleasant stimuli and practicing relaxation as they go. When they feel comfortable with this, they are no longer afraid and can move on to the next stage in the hierarchy.
• o   If the client becomes upset, they can move back to an earlier stage and regain their relaxed state.

  o   The client repeatedly imagines (or is confronted by) this situation until it fails to evoke any anxiety at all, indicating that the therapy has been successful.

  o   This process is repeated while working through all of the situations in the hierarchy.

  o   Often when people have phobias, they will avoid things that they fear.
• o   E.g., someone with a phobia of dogs will cross the road every time they see a dog which is negative reinforcement where they avoid the phobia however, systematic desensitisation aims to slowly eradicate this fear by working based on classical conditioning.
• A weakness is that this treatment doesn’t work on all types of fears for example the fear of the dark or dangerous animals which are not affected by systematic desensitisation as they may be too ingrained in our survival instincts. Furthermore, this treatment is only effective regarding specific situations and objects for example, it is less effective when treating people with a generalised anxiety disorder who have worries about imprecise situations. In order for SD to be seen as effective, it must work on curing all types of phobias and not just some.
• Another strength is the effectiveness of this therapy has been backed up with lots of supportive research evidence. Researchers find that most individuals receiving SD improve in therapy more than those who did not receive treatment. Capafons et al (1998) also found a significant reduction in their measurements of participants’ fear of flying following up to 15 sessions of systematic desensitisation can be highly effective for treating phobias such as fear of flying and phobias in which anxiety is the main difficulty.