LEARNING THEORIES flooding

Question 1

how is a fear extinguished

Answer 1

• at first, person in a state of extreme anxiety
• fight or flight response activated
• HR increases, increased temp, short shallow breaths
• body only stays in the alarm stage for short periods
  when anxiety subsides, find they have come to no harm and fear is gone

Question 2

how does flooding work

Answer 2

• prolonged intense exposure creates new associations between feared object and something positive
• prevents reinforcement of the phobia through avoidance and escape

Question 3

A03 positive points

Answer 3

• Prof. Lars-Goran Ost used flooding, found that for specific phobias, 90% improved after 2 hours of therapy
• Joseph Wolpe, girl with phobias of cars and drover her for 4 hours, now associated with enjoyment
• experiences unavoidable exposure (often happens in RL) so better prepared to face fears

Question 4

A03 negative points

Answer 4

• some not able to tolerate high levels of anxiety - so may strengthen the phobia
• exposure to high level of anxiety = ethical issues, patients not in control in treating their own phobias
• neither SD and flooding tackle underlying problems, both behavioural therapies