Aversion Therapy - Behaviourist Approach

Question 1

What is the aim of aversion therapy ?

Answer 1

• to cause individuals to develop an intense dislike, feeling or disgust
• can be used to treat drug/alcohol abuse, deviant sexual behaviour, gambling or smoking

Question 2

What are the main components of aversion therapy?

Answer 2

• covert sensitisation
• operant conditioning
• new developments

Question 3

What is the aim of

Answer 3

• AV therapy aims to pair the unwanted behaviour with an unpleasant (aversive) stimulus in hopes to reduce the behaviour

Question 4

Covert sensitisation

Answer 4

• follows the same principle of Classical conditioning but the unpleasant stimulus isn’t present
• this relies on the clients ability to use their imagination rather than actually experiencing the negative consequences
• for example alcoholics are required to imagine a frightening scene when they’re drinking .

Question 5

Operant conditioning

Answer 5

• once the association has been may through classical conditioning, the person tends to avoid future contact with the stimulus
• e.g an alcoholic avoids going to pubs or scenarios where people are drinking
• therefore a negative reinforcement (avoidance of what is now an unpleasant situation) is now motivating the individual to continue to avoid the situation

Question 6

New developments

Answer 6

• researchers has found a drug that helps with aversion therapy
• when mixed with alcohol, the drug induces nausea, which helps creates an aversive effect
• when the patient avoids alcohol, the drug helps to induce feelings of tranquility ‘Badway 1999’ (positive reinforcement) which further reinforces the desired behaviour
• e.g Tryptphan metabolites (stops alcohol from breaking down properly, turning it into a different chemical that cause the unpleasant effects)

Question 7

Research to support

Answer 7

S- there’s research to support
E- smith et al (1997) found that alcoholics who were treated with aversion therapy had higher abstinence rate than those who were treated with counselling alone
E- shows that AT is very effective for treatment for addictions like alcoholism.
W- therefore this is a strength as such research highlight the success of the therapy as well as suggesting it’s better than any other type of therapy

Question 8

Patient dropout

Answer 8

S- a weakness of AT is that only willing pts engage with the therapy suggesting that individuals can engage with the unwanted behaviour as soon as therapy has ended
E- Bancroft reported that up to 50% of patients either refuse treatments or drop out
E- this raises questions about the reliability of AT and makes it hard to evaluate such therapies if it only consists of willing pts
W- this therefore suggests that AT is impractical and that it is unrealistic to make ongoing use of noxious stimuli due to it being hard to access the effectiveness because it will be biased to people who completed it and say it works compared to those who dropped out

Question 9

Effects may not be long term

Answer 9

S- the lasting effects of AT are doubtful
E- many patients, in the therapists office, appear to recover, however these effects are not likely to transfer to the outer word where the punishing effects if drugs and shocks have disappeared.
E- research on the conditioned response, by Pavlov, is extinguished when it is unpaired with the UCS
W- therefore AT is ineffective

Question 10

The ethical implications - homosexuality

Answer 10

S- AT may break the ethical guidelines
E- AT was used to cure homosexuality as it was “not considered as unethical” until 2006. It is unethical because homosexuals were given nauseous drugs and placed in dirty surroundings being shown images of men
E- for example, Billy Clegg-hill died after being treated for homosexuality. He died as a result of a coma caused by the drug apomorphine.
W- had the APA had modified their guidelines and took notice of the inhumane treatment of homosexuals, then troubling endings such as billy clegg hill could’ve been avoided. Therefore AT has a very unethical background and shouldn’t be continued

Question 11

Ethical implications : Control

Answer 11

S- AT is unpleasant for patients and is therefore branded unethical
E- for example, techniques which involve punishment in particular (electrical shocks) have been criticised for exercising too much control over patients and “brainwashing them into treatment”
E- so it breaks protection from harm because the patient can endure both physical and psychological pain
W- therefore aspects of AT are ethically wrong to use on patients even if they’ve given consent (which isn’t valid with mentally ill patients), instead therapist should consider covert sensitisation which is a “milder” form of the therapy.