Phobias - behavioural approach to treating

Question 1

What are the two exposure therapies for phobias?

Answer 1

Systematic desensitisation & Flooding

Question 2

Systematic desensitisation - overview

Answer 2

• Gradually reduces phobia anxiety through the principle of classical conditioning
• 3 processes to SD - The anxiety hierarchy, relaxation, exposure

Question 3

Systematic desensitisation - The anxiety hierarchy

Answer 3

The anxiety hierarchy - put together by the client and the therapist. It is a list of situations related to the phobia that provoke anxiety arranged in order from least to most frightening - e.g a picture of a spider (least) to holding a tarantula (most)

Question 4

Systematic desensitisation - Relaxation

Answer 4

Relaxation - the therapist teaches the client to relax as deeply as possible. It is impossible to be afraid and relaxed at the same time so one emotion prevents the other = reciprocal inhibition
The relaxation might involve breathing exercises - alternative relaxation can be achieved using drugs such as valium

Question 5

Systematic desensitisation - Exposure

Answer 5

Exposure - finally the client is exposed to the phobia while in a relaxed state. This takes place across several sessions. Treatment is successful when the client can stay relaxed in situations high on the anxiety hierarchy

Question 6

Flooding

Answer 6

• Exposes people to their phobia but without a gradual build-up
• Flooding sessions are longer than SD sessions
• Flooding stops phobic responses very quickly - this could be because without the option of avoidance - the client quickly learns that the phobic stimulus is harmless
• In classical conditioning this is called extinction
• In some cases the client may achieve relaxation in the presence of the phobic stimulus simply because they become exhausted by their own fear response
• Clients must give fully informed consent to this traumatic procedure

Question 7

Systematic desensitisation - Strength

Answer 7

• Evidence base for its effectiveness
• Research has found that after 33 months, 42 people who had a phobia of spiders that had taken part in SD sessions were less fearful than a control group treated by relaxation with no exposure
• Means that SD is a useful therapy for people with phobias

Question 8

Systematic desensitisation - Limitation

Answer 8

• Isn’t effective for treating all phobias
• Clients with phobias which haven’t developed through a personal experience (classical conditioning) are not effectively treated using SD
• Some psychologists believe that certain phobias have an evolutionary survival benefit and aren’t the result of a personal experience but the result of evolution
• Suggests SD is ineffective in treating evolutionary phobias

Question 9

Flooding - Strength

Answer 9

• Highly cost effective
• Flooding can work in as little as one session as opposed to 10 sessions of SD to achieve the same result
• Even allowing for a longer session makes flooding more cost effective
• Means that more people can be treated at the same cost with flooding than SD

Question 10

Flooding - Limitation

Answer 10

• Traumatic - highly unpleasant experience
• Confronting ones phobia in an extreme form provokes tremendous anxiety
• Researchers found that clients and therapists rated flooding as significantly more stressful than SD
• This raises the ethical issues of knowingly causing stress to their clients even though they have given informed consent
• More importantly, the dropout rates are higher than that of SD
• Suggests therapists may avoid using this therapy