Behavioural Approach: Treating Phobias Flashcards
What are the aims of Systematic Desensitisation?
-Behavioural approach to treating phobias which suggests that abnormal behaviours are learned and can therefore be unlearned and eliminated
-Using classical conditioning
-Gradually and systematically reduce the fear response to a phobic stimulus
What are the key processes of SD?
Counter conditioning/reciprocal inhibition
-Fearful reaction is replaced with a relaxing reaction (deep breaths)
-The new association of relaxation counters the fearful reaction and reduces the anxiety
Relaxation
-Taught new ways to relax such as breathe exercises, mental imagery and meditation
Desensitisation hierarchy
-Gradually introducing the person to the phobic stimulus and helping them reach total relaxation on each stage of the hierarchy
What are the 5 steps to SD?
Step1: Relaxation
-Taught to relax their muscles completely, involves breathing exercises or mental imagery, meditate
Step2: Desensitisation hierarchy
-Constructed by patient and therapist, imagined scenes, photos events that will cause fear each one causing more and more each time
Step 3: Visualisation
-Patient visualises each phobic stimulus event while relaxing themselves
Step 4: Counter conditioning Reciprocal inhibition
-Once hierarchy can fully be accepted in a relaxed state, now both anxiety and relaxation cant be felt both at the same time
Step 5: Exposure
-Final step is to expose patient to phobic stimulus while in a relaxed state this takes place over several sessions starting at the bottom of the hierarchy and moving to the top where they are eventually exposed to the genuine stimulus
-Treatment ends when the patient can feel fully relaxed while in the presence of the stimulus
Example - Hierarchy of fears for a person with a phobia of dogs:
1) photos and videos
2) relaxation techniques
3) Dog introduced (other side of a window)
4) Access to dog
5) dog brought into personal space
6) pet the dog
7) walk the dog
8)outdoor contact with dog
9) introduced new dog(s)
What are 2 strengths to SD?
Responsibility
-Patient is in control of their therapy
-Patients decide when they can continue and when they need to stop
This is a huger advantage over biological treatments as it empowers the individual to treat the cause and the effect
Effectiveness
-Successful for a range of anxiety disorders
-75% of patients have found SD effective
-A study recruited 41 aerophobics to treat 20 with SD and 21 were a control group
-Treatment was 2x 1 hour sessions over a 12-15 week period
-After SD 18 patients reported lower levels of anxiety in comparison to the 1/21 people who reported signs of improvement
This again shows that SD is much more effective than no treatment at all
What are 2 weaknesses of SD?
Time and cost
-SD is a talking therapy which involves spending a lot of time with a professional psychologist working together to treat the phobia
-NHS offers SD but waiting lists are very long and only debilitating phobias are treat usually
-This type of therapy can cost upwards of £100/session
This makes drug treatments which are free on the NHS often more appealing and fast acting
Impractical methods
-Not always a practical method of confronting the phobic stimulus as it can prove to be difficult to control and arrange
-Some patients may struggle to use their imagination effectively
This minimises SD’s practicality as it wont work for everyone or may not work on everyone
What are the aims of flooding?
-Replaces maladaptive behaviour with adaptive ones
-Replaces fearful responses with relaxing ones
How does flooding work?
-Flooding stops phbias very quickly because the treatment gives patients no option of avoidance
-Extinct the phobia
-Usually a 2-3 hour session where patient practices some time to relax themselves
-Exposed to the phobia straight away and then wait till the body returns to a relaxed state
-Then a link between the phobia and relaxed state can be made
Example of flooding in practice:
-Someone scared of spiders will be immediately exposed to a genuine spider and then they relax themselves until the anxiety is gone
What are 2 strengths of flooding?
Responsibility
-Patient in control of recovery
-Entrust themselves to recover their phobia straight away
-Chooses to treat symptoms and cause
Puts the patient in control and allows them to have full long term recovery
Time and cost
-Flooding is quicker acting and just as effective
-Only takes 2-3 hours once
Can be seen as more appealing than SD for its quickness and is cheaper than SD
What are 2 weaknesses of flooding?
Time and cost
-Flooding has a drop out rate of 20.5% meaning 1/5 patients didn’t complete the course and in most cases the patient would still need to pay
This is a limitation because money is wasted and preparing patients takes time and wastes the psychologists time
Side effects
-Flooding is highly traumatic and patients must be in good physical health as anxiety levels can be very stressful on the body (heart attacks)
-Sometimes the anxiety caused by flooding can worsen their Phobia and how much they fear it
This can often result in failed treatment and make life worse for patients
