Flooding

• Flooding Definition (1)

  There is no graduation of the phobic stimulus/situations and the highest fear is confronted/reality tested immediately. Flooding sessions can be up to 3 hours long but in many cases only one session is needed to cure the phobia.
• Flooding Definition (2)

  It appears to work because of extinction. This occurs because the conditioned stimulus (the phobic object/stimulus) is encountered without the unconditioned stimulus (the traumatic experience) and therefore is removed, extinguished. A person’s fear response (and the release of adrenaline underlying this) has a time limit. As adrenaline levels naturally decrease, a new stimulus- response link can be larned between the feared stimulus and relaxation.
• Flooding Definition (3)

  Without the option of avoidance, the patient quickly learns that the phobic stimulus is harmless, this process is called extinction. 

  There are ethical issues with flooding as the initial stages can be unpleasant and traumatic for the patient, but it is not unethical because the patient has given fully informed consent before undertaking the treatment.
• (+)Cost Effective

  Ougrin compared flooding to CBT and found that flooding is highly effective and quicker at removing some phobias (typically only takes one session of 2/3 hrs compared to 6-12 1 hr sessions of cbt). This is a strength because it means that patients are free of their symptoms relatively quickly and treatment is therefore cheaper and more cost effective. 
• (+)Less time consuming

  SD takes 6-8 sessions which can span over a period of 6-8 weeks, taking a long time in comparison to flooding’s 1 2-3hour session. This is a strength as people may opt to choose flooding over SD due to how much quicker it is, therefore making it more effective as more people can remove their phobias.
• (-)Not Suitable For All Phobias

  It is less effective for more complex phobias such as social phobias. This may be because social phobias have cognitive aspects, for example, a suffere of social phobia does not simply experience an anxiety response but thinks unpleasant thoughts about the social situation. This type of phobia may benefit more from cognitive therapies because these therapies tackle the irrational thinking.  Limitation as it’s not an effective treatment for all phobias- has limited use.
• (-) Traumatic Experience

   Patients are obviously made away of this before the treatment and so informed consent is obtained however some people believe because patients are vulnerable and distressed and the control is given to the therapist, the patient may feel pressured to stay or their withdrawal may be delayed in trying to convince the therapist that they can not complete the treatment. Limitation as it can be considered unethical. In addition, because some people drop out, time and money may be wasted. Not effective for all people.