Treating phobias

• outline the behavioural treatments for phobias?

  There are two behavioural therapies used to treat phobias: flooding and systematic desensitisation.
• Outline flooding?

  Flooding involves immediate exposure to an extremely anxiety‐inducing stimulus, where the participant is unable to avoid (negatively reinforce) and so anxiety levels eventually decrease. Over time, extinction will occur because anxiety is time limited, and as a result, the fear will eventually subside. 
• what are the strengths of flooding?

  One strength of flooding is that it is quicker than other therapies (e.g. systematic desensitisation) which makes it more cost-effective and possibly more suitable for people who don’t have the time to commit to longer therapies. 
• Elaborate on distress as a weakness of flooding?

  However, flooding has major ethical issues, as it is a very distressing process.  The participant effectively loses their right to withdraw since they have to stay to make the treatment work, this means the therapist has to judge how much distress the person should experience before stopping, which can be difficult and takes control away from the person
• elaborate on dangerousness as a weakness of flooding?

  Additionally, It can be classed as dangerous due to the high level of anxiety and the situations that patients are exposed to could cause serious medical complications and even death.  For example forcing a patient with a fear of water to swim out of their depth could result in them drowning.
• outline systematic desensitisation?

  Systematic desensitisation uses counter‐conditioning to help patients ‘unlearn’ their phobias, by creating a relaxation response instead of fear. The patient works with a therapist to create an anxiety hierarchy, ranking the phobic situation from least to most anxiety‐inducing. The patient is also taught relaxation strategies, such as breathing techniques, to help them remain calm when exposed to their fear. Finally, the patient works through their fear hierarchy, starting at the bottom, while trying to remain relaxed at each stage. 
• what are the strengths of systematic desensitisation?

  can be used on children and others who cannot give informed consent

  
  

  more ethical

  
  

  research support
• elaborate on the ability to work on children as a strength of systematic desensitisation?

  One advantage of systematic desensitisation over flooding is that it can be used on children and others who may not be able to fully understand flooding in order to give informed consent.
• elaborate on how ethical as a strength of SD?

  It is also considered more ethical than flooding since there is no deception and always the right to withdraw. The person has more control over what’s happening since they construct the hierarchy and take an active role in deciding how quickly to move through the stages. Additionally, this therapy is less stressful than flooding as it exposes patients to their phobia gradually rather than being ‘thrown in at the deep end’.
• elaborate on research support as a strength of SD?

  Many studies have found systematic desensitisation to be effective for a range of phobias and also give long lasting improvements. For example, McGrath found that 75% of patients with phobias respond positively to systematic sensitisation. Additionally, Lang and Lazovik (1963) found systematic desensitisation to be more effective in treating snake phobias in a group of female college students compared to a no treatment group and the effects of the treatment were evident 6 months later.    
• outline the weaknesses of SD?

  contradicting research

  limited effectiveness as it doesnt work on phobias that don’t have a traumatising event
• elaborate on contradictory research as a weakness of SD?

  However klein 1983 compared systematic desensitisation with other psychotherapies and found that there was no difference in effectiveness. This suggests that it could be the clients motivation and expectations of overcoming the phobia rather than the systematic desensitisation techniques. This suggests hat cognitive factors could be more important that behaviourists suggest, reducing the credibility of the approach and treatments. 
• elaborate on limited effectiveness as a weakness of SD?

  A further criticism of systematic desensitisation is that its effectiveness is limited. It isn’t as effective in treating phobias with an evolutionary basis such as snakes and the dark where clients can't recall a traumatising event that preceded their phobia. This suggests that the effectiveness of systematic desensitisation depends on the nature of the patient's phobia, reducing its practical applications as treatments.