the behavioural approach to treating phobias

Question 1

flooding

Answer 1

exposing phobic patients to their phobic stimulus but without a gradual build up in an anxiety hierarchy.this refers to an immediate exposue to a very frightening situation

Question 2

how does flooding work

Answer 2

flooding stops phobic responses very quickly as there is no option of avoidance behaviour.
= allows the patient to learn that the phobic stimulus is harmless.
-this process is known as extinction.
-when confronted with the phobic stimulus, the association between the condition stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus is broken because the patient sees that the conditioned does not lead to the unconditioned stimulus -this results in the conditioned relationship between the conditioned stimulus and the conditioned response to be extinguished.

Question 3

strength of flooding

Answer 3

-research to support
researchers(kaplin and tolin) investigated how effective flooding is.
-identified a group with specific phobias ,who had been treated with a single session of flooding .
the researchers followed up with the researchers four years later to determine whether the patients were showing symptoms of a phobia.
-found that 65% of patients still showed no signs of a specific phobia four years later
= that flooding is effective for treating specific phobias as the effects are not temporary
-however,the psychologists obtained informed consent.

Question 4

limitation of flooding

Answer 4

-highly unpleasant experience
=confronting one’s phobic stimulus in an extreme form provokes tremendous anxiety.
-researchers found that participants and therapists rated flooding as significantly more stressful than systematic desensitisation
-this raises the ethical issue for psychologists of knowingly causing stress to their clients.
-more seriously, the traumatic nature of flooding has lead to attrition rates being more higher than systematic desensitisation
-this suggests, that overall,therapists may avoid using this treatment.

Question 5

systematic desensitisation

Answer 5

gradually exposing patients to their phobic stimulus.
1)construct a hierarchy of fears
-an anxiety hierarchy is put together by the clients with the phobia and the therapist. This is a list of situations related to the phobic stimulus that provoke anxiety arranged in order from the least anxiety inducing to the most
-e:g a pic of a spider ,a video of a spider, holding a spider
2)relaxation techniques
- refers to therapist teaching clients how to relax as deeply as possible
impossible to be relaxed and afraid at the same time (reciprocal inhibition)
-the relaxation might involve breathing exercises or mental imagery techniques
3)exposure
-finally the client is exposed to the phobic stimulus in a relaxed state
-when client can stay relaxed in the presence of the lower levels of the phobic stimulus, they can move up the hierarchy
-the treatment is successful when the client can stay relaxed in situations high on the anxiety hierarchy.

Question 6

differences between flooding and systemantic desensitisation

Answer 6

flooding
-one session is longer than sd (2-3hrs)
-sometimes only one session is needed to cure phobia
immediate exposure

Question 7

how does systemantic desensitisation work

Answer 7

clients are exposed to their phobic stimulus in stages,so they have more experience with their phobia
=clients have more chances to distinguish the association between the conditioned and unconditioned stimulus
=clients are less likely to display a conditioned fear response

Question 8

limitations of systematic desensitisation

Question 9

systemantic desensitisation strengths

Answer 9

-research support
ost conducted a study to investigate how effective SD is.
-identified a group of 20 patients who had a specific phobia for blood or injury.
- he built an anxiety hierarchy for the patients and taught each of them a range of relaxation techniques
-Ost worked through the stages of the anxiety hierarchy from the least to the most feared stimulus
-4 years after the treatment Ost followed up on the 20 clients to see if they had recovered from their phobia
-he found the 90% of the patients either much improved or fully recovered from the blood phobia
=supports SD being effective as a high proportion of Ost’s patients recovered

-can be used to help people with learning disabilities
-people with learning difficulties often struggle with cognitive therapies that require complex ration thoughts
-they may also feel confused and distressed by the traumatic experience of flooding
-SD includes an anxiety hierarchy which builds up in stages and the teaching of relaxation techniques
-Also patients can only move up the anxiety hierarchy once they can stay relaxed in the presences of lower levels
=patients are exposed to their phobia gradually which = clients are less likely to feel distressed
-more ethical than flooding
=SD is often the most appropriate treatment for people with learning disabilities
who have phobias.