Fear and Anxiety Reduction Procedures Flashcards
What is a ‘Fear’?
Fear is caused by a stimulus or situation that produces unpleasant physiological response and cognitive appraisal
What is respondent conditioning of fear?
Conditioned emotional response (CER)
ex: sight of escalators (CS)–> autonomic system arousal, physiological response (fear) (CR)
What is operant conditioning of fear?
Escape or avoidance (negative reinforcement) ex: autonomic system arousal (Sd) –> avoiding escalator (behaviour) –> relief (Sr)
What are the two basic principles to reduce fear and anxiety?
Respondent extinction and Counter conditioning
Explain Respondent Extinction:
Present the CS repeatedly without the US (fear). The idea is to break the connection between the the CS and US so they are no longer afraid
What is Anxiety?
Unpleasant bodily responses (autonomic system response) when presented a certain stimuli
Describe the 3 kinds in CSs.
- In-vivo: real-life events, objects or people
- Imaginal: mental representations of events, objects or people
- Symbolic: overt representation of events, objects or people
Explain Counter Conditioning:
Train the person to substitute a competing or incompatible behaviour for the CR when the CS is presented
Who is Mary Jones and what did she do?
‘Mother of behaviour therapy’, she was Watson’s student and pioneered the first use of behavioural techniques in therapy on a 3 year old boy afraid of rabbits. She used modelling and exposure to rabbits to improve his tolerance. AKA the ‘sequel’ to Watson’s Little Albert.
Define relaxation:
A state of calmness with low psychological and physiological arousal and tension
Define relaxation training:
Strategies that people use to decrease the autonomic arousal they experience as a component of fear an anxiety problems
What is Progressive Muscle relaxation (PMR)
First described by Jacobson, the person systematically tenses and relaxes each of the major muscle groups in the body. Tensing and relaxing the muscles leave them more relaxed than the initial state
Explain Diaphragmatic breathing (aka deep breathing)
Person breathes deeply in a slow, rhythmic fashion using the muscles of the diaphragm and the abdomen. Anxiety is usually associated with shallow, rapid breathing, diaphragmatic breathing decreases anxiety by replacing its breathing pattern (incompatible)
Explain Guided Imagery (Attention-Focusing Exercise)
The person imagines/visualizes pleasant scenes or images, the exercise focuses the persons attention on something other than anxiety inducing thoughts
Explain Autogenic training (Attention-Focusing Exercise)
‘Self produced’, the person imagines bieng in a pleasant and peaceful scene and experiencing specific bodily sensations (not muscle tension)
Who is autogenic training suited for?
more suitable then PMT for people with chronic pain or difficulty moving
Explain Meditation (Attention-Focusing Exercise)
The process of contemplating or focusing one’s attention on an object, event, or idea to help the person become detached or dissociated from their physical states, thoughts or feelings.
It has been successfully used to treat chronic pain by focusing on and separating physical sensations from the cognitive and emotional reactions to pain
Explain Behavioural Relaxation training:
It involves relaxing (not tensing) different muscle groups and adopting certain relaxed body postures. Typically other relaxation techniques are incorporates too.
Who developed Systematic Desensitization?
Joseph Wolpe in 1958 based on Mary Jones’ Counterconditioning
Define phobia:
A fear in which the level of anxiety or escape is severe enough to disrupt the person’s life
Explain Systematic Desensitization:
A person with a phobia practices relaxation while imagining scenes of the fear- producing stimulus
What are the three important steps for systematic desensitization?
- The client learns relaxation skills
- The therapist and client develop a hierarchy of fear- producing stimuli
- The client practices the relaxation skills while the therapist describes scenes from the hierarchy
Is systematic desensitization effective?
It is highly effective for helping people overcome fears, and its effectiveness is maintained over time. It often improves other areas of emotional functioning and other anxiety related problems
How is In vivo desensitization different from systematic desensitization and which more effective?
In vivo, the client gradually approaches or is gradually exposed to the actual fear- producing stimulus, Systematic, the client only imagines the fear producing stimulus.
In vivo is more effective than systematic
What is the VAS scale?
It measures pain levels
Explain Flooding (aka response prevention and originally called implosive therapy)
A procedure where the person is exposed to the feared stimulus at full intensity for a prolonged period. The idea is that the person’s anxiety will decrease over time due to respondent extinction.
Explain Modelling:
Phobic person watches someone else preform a feared behaviour and can desensitize fears vicariously. This includes: Participant Modelling (person is encouraged to join in), Videotaped Modelling (less effective) and Computer-aided vicarious exposure (kinda like SIMS)
Explain Virtual Reality Exposure:
Participants wear a head-mounted stereoscopic virtual reality (VR) display that presents a 3D immersive experience that may include directional audio, haptic feedback/vibration and scents. It presents a controlled simulated experience as a part of exposure therapy. Good for treating solders with PTSD
