Psychopathology- treatment of phobias Flashcards
Who developed systematic desensitisation
Wolpe
What is a fear hierarchy
This is a list of situations in which the client would feel anxiety, arranged from least to most anxiety produced.
What is the first step of SD
Together the client and therapist construct a fear hierarchy.
What is the second step of SD
The client is taught different techniques for relaxing. These would probably include controlling breathing (e.g. 7/11) and muscular tension by using PROGRESSIVE MUSCLE RELAXATION and might include other techniques
What is the third step pf SD
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 gradually work their way upward.
At each level of exposure what MUST the client do
Use their relaxation training until they are able to completely relax with the item of fear e.g. picture of a spider. Once this happens, it is time to move onto the next level of exposure.
What is the forth step of SD
Exposure
What are the two ways that exposure can happen in
In vitro
in vivo
What does in vitro mean
The client imagines exposure
What does in vivo mean
The client is actually exposed to the phobic stimulus
What does reciprocal inhibition mean
Two opposite emotions (like FEAR and RELAXATION) cannot co-exist at the same time. Hence, under very specific relaxation techniques you cannot be anxious
How many people did Wolpe use SD on
39
How many phobias did Wolpe attempt to treat
68
How successful was Wolpe
He was successful/partially successful with 91%
Evaluating SD
-evidence from Wolpe
There is wealth of evidence that supports the use of Systematic Desensitisation in treating phobias
For example, WOLPE (1961) used SD on 39 patients (68 phobias), and it was successfully /partially successful with 91% (62 phobias)
The other 9% unsuccessful were mostly due to special problems including an inability to imagine the situations presented in the hierarchy
This implies..SD is an effective therapy for UNLEARNING phobias
Evaluating SD
-evidence from McGrath
Furthermore, more evidence can be quoted from McGrath
McGrath (1990) found that 75% of patients with specific phobias showed clinically significant improvement following the treatment
This shows the effectiveness of SD in a real life setting showing that SD is credit worthy
Evaluating SD
-is it a cure?
S.D. may not be effective as a cure.
S.D. may appear to resolve a problem but eliminating or suppressing symptoms may result in other symptoms appearing (symptom substitution)
This is where patients could develop further phobic responses to different new things
This suggests that the therapy could be considered superficial and only provide temporary relief
Evaluating SD
- ethics
The ethics of the therapy can also be praise
The patient is given more control in the SD procedure and will only move on when they are ready to.
The treatment is considered to be far more ethical than others based on classical conditioning e.g. flooding.
In this sense, the patient is PROTECTED from HARM and the therapy should be praised
Evaluating SD
-scientific
SD is considered to be a very scientific based therapy
This is because it utilises a systematic procedure, that is fully open to observation
What’s more, as it only focuses on observable ‘behavioural’ aspects on phobias (not cognitions), its seen as very OBJECTIVE
This supports the idea that psychology is a scientific discipline worthy of respect and further funding!
How is flooding different to SD
Exposure is immediate
What is a key principle of flooding
Revolves around the idea that ANXIETY / fear is a time limited physical response – the initial strong bodily arousal caused by hormones (e.g. adrenaline) can only last so long before the body calms down. Hence, the initial anxiety response becomes exhausted and EXTINCT.
What does flooding assume about anxiety
It is a time limited physical response
