Quiz 10 Flashcards
Defining Fear & Anxiety Problems
- Fear of a particular stimulus or stimulus situation
- A fear is composed of both operant & respondent behavior
- When the fearful stimulus is present, person experiences unpleasant physiological responses (autonomic nervous system arousal)
- As a result, they engage in escape or avoidance behavior
– Autonomic nervous system arousal = establishing operation for avoidance & escape behavior
– Physiological response = respondent behavior (anxiety)
Example: Fear of Spiders
- CS (presence of spider) -> CR (autonomic arousal; anxiety - rapid heart rate, sweating, upset stomach, light-headed)
- Operant behavior = screaming for someone to come and kill the spider & running away
– The running away and yelling behaviors are reinforced by the removal of or escape from the spider & the anxiety symptoms
Considerations for Addressing Fear & Anxiety
- Respondent behavior is a component of fear, but it is unknown how fear was developed through respondent conditioning
– Unclear how the CS (feared stimulus) became conditioned to elicit the CR (anxiety)
- You do not need to have knowledge of how the fear was conditioned to help the person overcome the fear
– Need to identify all of the stimuli that currently function as a CS that elicits the fear
- Some problem behaviors that are associated with fear and anxiety are simply an operant behavior (environment changes) with no respondent behavior or fear component
– Conduct a functional assessment to determine the function
Procedures to Reduce Fear & Anxiety: Relaxation Training
- Strategies that people use to decrease autonomic arousal that they experience as part of fear & anxiety problems
- Individual engages in specific relaxation behaviors that result in bodily response opposite to the autonomic nervous system arousal
– Decrease in muscle tension, heart rate, and breathing rate
Types of Relaxation Training
- Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR): The person systematically tenses & relaxes each of the major muscle groups in the body
- Diaphragmatic breathing (deep breathing): person breaths deeply in a slow, rhythmic fashion
- Attention-focusing exercises: direct attention to a neutral or pleasant stimulus to remove a person’s attention for anxiety-provoking stimulus (meditation or guided imagery)
- Behavioral relaxation training: person is taught to relax each muscle group in the body by assuming relaxed postures (similar to PMR, but person does not tense & relax muscles)
Procedures to Reduce Fear & Anxiety: Desensitization
- Phobia: a fear in which the level of anxiety or escape/avoidance behaviors is severe enough to disrupt the person’s life
- Systematic Desensitization: person with a phobia practices relaxation while imagining scenes of the fear-producing stimulus
- Client learns relaxation skills
- Client and therapist develop a hierarchy of fear-producing stimuli
- The client practices the relaxation skills while the therapist describes scenes from the hierarchy
- In Vivo Desensitiation
- Client learns relaxation skills
- Client and therapist develop a hierarchy of fear-producing stimuli
- The client experiences each situation in the hierarchy while maintaining relaxation
- Importantly, clients must advance through each step without an increase in anxiety
