Behaviourist approach: treating phobias Flashcards
What are the 2 ways of treating phobias?
- Systematic desensitisation
- Flooding
What are the steps of systematic desensitisation?
- Fear hierarchy- Client + therapist construct the fear hierarchy (a list of situations where the client would feel anxiety arranged from least to most)
- Relaxation training- Client is taught different techniques to relax: controlling breathing/ muscular tension by using progressive muscle relaxation
- Graduated exposure- Over the course of 6 to 12 sessions the client is gradually brought into contact with their phobic object/ situation. Starts at bottom of fear hierarchy and work upwards. At each level of exposure they’re encouraged to use their relaxation training until they can relax. Exposure can be done in 2 ways:
- In vitro- client imagine exposure to phobic stimulus
- In vivo- client is exposed to phobic stimulus - Reciprocal inhibition- When the body cannot experience fear and relaxation at the same time.
If the point is:
A strength of systematic desensitisation is that there is a lot of evidence that supports the use of systematic desensitisation in treating phobias.
What is the evidence, explanation and link?
Evidence- For example, McGrath found that 75% of patients with specific phobias showed clinically significant improvement following the treatment.
Explanation- This proved that, for majority of the people, this kind of treatment is effective at treating phobias.
Link- This implies that using systematic desensitisation is a good way to treat phobias.
If the point is:
However, a weakness of systematic desensitisation is that some psychologists argue that it doesn’t deal with the root cause of phobias and therefore doesn’t offer a full cure.
What is the evidence, explanation and link?
Evidence- Systematic desensitisation may appear to resolve a problem, but eliminating or suppressing symptoms may result in other symptoms appearing (symptom substitution).
Explanation- This is where patients could develop further phobic responses to different new things.
Link- This implies the therapy could be considered superficial and provide only temporary relief.
If the point is:
Alternatively, a strength of systematic desensitisation is that the ethics of the therapy can be praised.
What is the evidence, explanation and link?
Evidence- This is because they can only go as far as the client is comfortable with and it is in a controlled environment.
Explanation- This means that the patient is protected from harm at all times.
Link- This implies that the therapy should be praised for its ethical consideration.
If the point is:
Another weakness of systematic desensitisation is that there’s some evidence that suggests the benefit of it is not the same for all phobias, especially social/complex phobias.
What is the evidence and link?
Evidence- Craske and Barlow found that 60 to 80% of agoraphobics show some improvement after treatment, but relapse after 6 months.
Link- This implies the use of systematic desensitisation is only appropriate to certain types of phobias and has limited use.
What are the steps of flooding?
- Before intense exposure, the client may be taught relaxation techniques to help control their anxiety response.
- Key principle is the idea that fear is a time limited physical response- initial anxiety response becomes extinct and exhausted.
- Eventually creates a new association with the feared stimulus and a calm response and prevents escape and avoidance, eventually eliminating the phobia.
If the point is:
A strength of flooding is that it has supporting evidence for treating phobias.
What is the evidence, explanation and link?
Evidence- For example, Wolfe effectively used flooding to remove a girls phobia of being in cars.
Explanation- The girl was forced into a car and driven around for 4 hours until her anxiety was eradicated. This demonstrated the effectiveness of the treatment.
Link- This shows the potential for flooding as a treatment of phobias.
If the point is:
However, a weakness of flooding is that it’s accused of being unethical, which could restrict its use.
What is the evidence, explanation and link?
Evidence- This is because this technique could be too much to handle at once for the client.
Explanation- The intense exposure all at once may lead the patient to feel extreme stress and anxiety levels, as they’re not being gradually introduced with their phobia.
Link- This means flooding may not be the most appropriate way of treating phobias.
If the point is:
Another weakness of flooding is that, like systematic desensitisation, it’s less effective in treating complex phobias such as agoraphobia or social phobias.
What is the evidence, explanation and link?
Evidence- Social phobias involve considerably more cognitive aspects than specific phobias, as they don’t just deal with an anxiety response, but are accompanied by more unpleasant thoughts about the situation.
Explanation- Flooding does not deal with this part, nor does it take it into consideration.
Link- Hence, perhaps the root cause of phobias is not behavioural, implying flooding is inappropriate for some treatments.
