Psychopathology - Behavioural Treatment AO3

Question 1

What are the strengths for SD treatment?

Answer 1

1. highly effective (McGrath et al found that it’s 75% of patients responded to SD) which means it’s reliable
2. gradual and won’t cause any trauma post treatment (more ethical)

Question 2

What are the weaknesses for SD treatment?

Answer 2

1. not as effective with evolutionary survival phobias (fear of the dark, height) as they don’t stem from traumatic experiences
2. SD may end up replacing one phobia with another which suggests it addresses the effect but not the root of the phobia (not valid)

Question 3

What are the strengths for flooding treatment?

Answer 3

1. highly effective as it’s quick and works well (Wolpe used flooding to remove a women’s fear of being in a car and after a few hours in a car her fear was eradicated)

2.cost effective as it is quick (can only be one session) which makes it easy for the NHS to provide and also more accessible in other countries

Question 4

What are the weaknesses for flooding treatment?

Answer 4

1. the treatment is often traumatic for the patient which means some people can’t see it to the end which wastes money
2. less effective for more complex phobias like social phobias which may benefit more from cognitive therapies (can’t be generalised to all phobias)