Psychopathology - behaviourist treating phobias Flashcards
What are the two treatments suggested by the behaviourist approach of treating phobias?
systematic desensitisation
Flooding
What is the aim of systematic desensitisation?
To use the principle of association to replace the anxiety response with a relaxation response to help remove the phobia
What are the 4 key features of systematic desensitisation?
Fear hierarchy
Relaxation training
Graduated exposure
Reciprocal inhibition
What is meant by fear hierarchy in systematic desensitisation?
Together the client and therapist construct a fear hierarchy This is a list of intubations in which the client would feel anxiety, arranged from least to most anxiety produced
What is meant by relaxation training in systematic desensitisation?
The client is taught different techniques for relaxing. These would probably include controlling breathing and muscular tension by using progressive muscle relaxation and might include other techniques
What is meant by graduated exposure in systematic desensitisation?
Over the course of 6 to 12 sessions, the client is gradually brought into contact with their phobic object or situation. They start at the bottom of their fear hierarchy and radially work their way upwards exposing the phobia at each level
What are the two ways in which exposure can be done during graduates exposure?
In vitro - the client imagines exposure to the phobic stimulus
In vivo - the client is actually exposed to the phobic stimulus
What is meant by reciprocal inhibition in systematic desensitisation?
Two opposite emotions can’t co-exist at the same time. Hence, under very specific relaxation techniques you can’t be anxious, so relaxation is associated with calm so the phobia is counter-conditioned in this way
Give a 5 step fear hierarchy for arachnophobia:
Thinking about a spider
Seeing a spider
Seeing a spider crawl along your desk
Letting a spider crawl on your shoe
Letting a spider crawl along your bare arm
What are the two strengths of systematic desensitisation?
Supporting evidence - article by wolpe
Limiting distress to patients - patients are given more control over the procedure
what did Wolpe find in his article?
Reported on 39 cases of phobias. The desensitisation process rate of success determined as : completely successful or partially successful. Out of the 39 cases, a total of 68 phobias were treated. 62 of the phobias were completely or partially successful (91% success rate)
What are the 2 weaknesses of systematic desensitisation?
Doesn’t deal with the root cause of the phobia
Benefit of systematic desensitisation isn’t the same for all phobias - especially complex phobias
Who are the researchers that did research which shows that systematic desensitisation doesn’t work as well for all types of phobias and what did they find?
and Barlow found that between 60-70% of agoraphobics show some improvement after treatment, but it was only slight and clients often relapse completely after 6 months
What is flooding as a treatment for phobias?
This therapy is also based on classical conditioning where exposure is all at once as opposed to gradual
What is the aim of flooding?
To expose the sufferer to the phobic object or situation for an extended period of time in a safe and controlled manner, and is largely done through in vivo methods
What is the first key feature of flooding?
To expose the sufferer to the phobic object or situation for an extended period of time in a safe and controlled manner. Exposure is all at once opposed to gradual
What is the second key principle of flooding?
Key principle revolves around the idea that fear is a time limited physical response - the initial strong bodily arousal caused by hormone can only last so long before the body calms down. Hence the initial anxiety response becomes exhausted and extinct
What is the third key feature of flooding?
This prolonged intense exposure then eventually creates a new association between the feared stimulus and a calm response
How would you treat someone with apiphobia using the flooding treatment?
Put the phobic person in a room full of friendly bees for an extended period of time (10-15 minutes)
What are the 2 strengths of flooding as a treatment for phobias?
Supporting evidence from Wolpe
Cost effective in terms of time and resources
What was the supporting evidence for treating phobias using flooding and what did they find?
Wolpe effectively used flooding to remove a girls phobia of being in cars. The girl was forced into a car and driven around for 4 hours until her anxiety was eradicated. This demonstrated the effectiveness of the treatment
What are the two weaknesses of flooding as a treatment for phobias?
Accused of being unethical - could restrict it’s use
Less effective in treating complex phobias like agoraphobia or social phobia
why is flooding accused of being unethical?
There is no control for the patient once the treatment is initiated and they can’t escape if they are too scared it’s highly traumatic - they are put under intense distress and can be left with lasting effects of this distress. Barrett gave a girl a session of flooding who was scared of snakes
Why is flooding seen as very cost effective?
This is due to the fact that once therapy sessions are completed the person has overcome their fear and shouldn’t suffer again so will need no more treatment so the initial cost is worthwhile as it will mean no more demands on the NHS as continual treatment costs aren’t incurred as they would be with drug treatment which could have side effects that could also need treating
