behavioural treatment for phobias

Question 1

strength:there is research support for the effectiveness of flooding as a treatment for phobias

Answer 1

E: e.g.wolpe forced an adolescent girl with a fear of cars into the back of a car and drove her around for 4hs.initially her fear reached hysterical heights but then decreased and by the end had completely gone.
E: this shows that being exposed to your fears for a sustained amount of time can cure a phobia [this experiment should be treated with caution because one adolescent girl is not generalisable/representative of everyone with a phobia-lack of pop val-]
L:therefore this study provides some support whilst also displaying ethical issues with flooding.

Question 2

limitation:behavioural therapies are not the most effective treatments for phobias

Answer 2

E: research has shown that social phobias have been more effectively treated by cognitive therapies(like CBT)
E:this challenges the effectiveness of behaviourist treatments as it shows that other forms of treatment prove more effective.this also suggests the underlying problems with ignoring how we think . CBT focuses on how we behave as well as how we think which is arguably more effective. (includes irrational thoughts)
L:therefore brings about the possibibilty that behaviourist treatments are limited.