Flooding

Question 1

What is Flooding?

Answer 1

• Flooding is a behavioural therapy for phobias where the individual is exposed to their feared stimulus in an intense and prolonged way, without a gradual build-up. The idea is that anxiety will eventually decrease through extinction.

Question 2

How is Flooding Carried Out?

Answer 2

The client is immediately exposed to the most anxiety-inducing situation (e.g., someone with a dog phobia is placed in a room with a dog). They are kept in the situation until their anxiety subsides, and they learn the object is not harmful. Relaxation is not taught beforehand, unlike systematic desensitisation.

Question 3

Different Treatments

Answer 3

P- Flooding can be more effective than systematic desensitisation for some phobias.
E- It works faster because it skips the gradual stages and forces the brain to re-learn that the object is not dangerous.
E- This makes it ideal for treating simple phobias, but it’s less suitable for complex or social phobias that involve cognitive processes.

Question 4

Expense

Answer 4

P- Flooding is often cheaper than other behavioural therapies.
E- Because it works quickly—sometimes in one long session—it requires fewer sessions and therefore less therapist time.
E- This makes it cost-effective, although follow-up sessions may still be needed for some people.

Question 5

Supporting Study

Answer 5

P- Research has shown flooding can be successful in reducing phobic symptoms.
E- Wolpe (1960) reported a case where a girl with a car phobia overcame it after being forced to ride in a car for several hours, with her anxiety eventually disappearing.
E- This supports the principle of extinction in flooding, but the extreme nature of the study raises ethical concerns.

Question 6

Side effects

Answer 6

P- None
E- It is based on removal of a behaviour, unlike drugs that alter brain chemistry and can cause physical side effects.
E- Therefore more people may opt to have this therapy and less likely to drop out

Question 7

Ethics & Social Control

Answer 7

P- Unethical
E- While clients consent, they may feel pressured or regret agreeing once the intense exposure begins.
E- Some argue it could be a form of social control, pressuring individuals to conform to “normal” behaviours against their comfort.

Question 8

Reason or Mask Symptoms

Answer 8

P- May not get to root cause
E- Only removes fear response through exposure…. Unlike psychoanalysis
E- Therefore, the fear could come back or be replaced by another—symptom substitution. Flooding therefore might be a short term solution.

Question 9

Time commitment

Answer 9

P- While flooding works quickly, the sessions themselves are intense and long.
E- One session might last 2–3 hours of continuous exposure, which can be physically and emotionally exhausting.
E- For some, this time commitment in a single sitting is harder to manage than spreading treatment out gradually.