Stress Inoculation Therapy Flashcards
Who developed stress inoculation therapy?
Meichebaum and Cameron
What is stress inoculation therapy?
A form of cognitive behaviour therapy used to treat stress. The name inoculation is applied because it can provide a long term resistance to effects of stress.
What does Stress inoculation therapy involve?
Tackling the thought processes that could be leading to problematic behaviours. By acknowledging faulty thought processes, changes can be made to then bring about a change in behaviour, thus resulting in less problematic behaviour.
What are the three stages of stress inoculation therapy?
Conceptualisation
Skills acquisition and rehearsal
Application and follow through
What is the conceptualisation stage in SIT?
Patients are encouraged to talk about the stressors they face and how they currently deal with them
Negative through patterns are discussed, such a ‘I am a failure at work because I keep missing deadlines’.
What is the skills acquisition and rehearsal stage of SIT?
New skills are discussed to help the patient deal with the stressors in a more productive way. This could include relaxation techniques.
More positive thought patterns may be discussed such as ‘I need to get organised to avoid missing deadlines’.
What is the application and follow through stage of SIT?
The skills they have learnt will be put into practice through role plays of stressful situations.
Gradually, the patient will work up to real world practice in increasingly stressful situations, until eventually they feel able to use the skills independently.
What is the research evidence of SIT?
Jay and Elliot(1990)
What did Jay and Elliot research?
They looked at the effectiveness of SIT to help parents of children receiving treatment for leukaemia deal with the stress situation. They compared parents given SIT with those given another therapy, and found that the SIT group reported lower levels of anxiety and better coping skills than the other group. This suggests that SIT may be a useful treatment for dealing with real life stressors.
finish the evaluation: unlike drug treatments for stress, SIT has no negative side effects.
Because the biology of the individual is not being affected by the therapy, there can be no impact on their physiology such as cognitive impairments or hallucinations. Thus, SIT is a more effective method of treating stress when compared to drug therapy.
finish the evaluation: the skills acquired during SIT provide the patient with a long term coping strategy
This means that it not only helps with current stressors but also with all future stressful situations. Therefore, the skills learnt from the therapy are a continuous way of treating stress.
finish the evaluation: CBT can help soldiers to confront the trauma they have faced
And challenge the blame or other negative thoughts that may accompany the memory of the events witnessed. This helps them to deal with the trauma and develop coping strategies to use long term. This therefore proves that SIT must have real world applications and thus is ecologically valid.
finish the evaluation: SIT is only effective if the patient is motivated and capable of spending time considering their own stressors and practising the skills taught.
Some people experiencing high levels of stress may be too impatient to take time to treat their own stress, meaning it may be ineffective for some. Therefore the SIT is flawed as it relies too much on the patient.
