Therapies- Aversion Therapy Flashcards
What is the first assumption of Aversion Therapy?
Counter-conditioning
It is based on classical conditioning.
The client is given an aversive unpleasant stimulus (unconditioned stimulus), e.g. electric shock, which causes a reaction of pain or feeling sick (unconditioned response).
The is then repeatedly paired with an undesirable behaviour (e.g. alcohol) - a neutral stimulus.
Over time the client begins to associate the unpleasant reaction of pain (conditioned response) with the undesirable behaviour (conditioned stimulus).
It is also used in operant conditioning where the client will avoid the unpleasant stimulus by maintaining abstinence (negative reinforcement).
What is the second assumption of Aversion Therapy?
Covert Sensitisation
It is the less commonly used form of AT.
Clients use their imagination to think of possible negative outcomes to their negative behaviour/addiction.
For example an alcoholic may think of throwing up, being sick on someone else, going to hospital, having liver failure etc.
The scenarios always get progressively worse.
What is the third assumption of Aversion Therapy?
Use of Drugs.
Antabuse is a new development to treat alcohol addiction.
It lasts for a few hours and causes unpleasant symptoms (e.g. headache, sweating, heart palpitations) within 10 minutes of drinking alcohol.
A conditioned association is then formed between the unpleasant symptoms and alcohol.
The client will then try to avoid such behaviours where drinking is involved (e.g. parties, pub’s).
How is born a blank slate linked to Aversion Therapy?
All behaviours are meant through experiences.
Addictions are developed through experiences rather than having a biological or physical cause.
If we can learn behaviours we can ‘unlearn’ undesirable behaviours and relearn more appropriate ones - this is what AT aims to achieve.
How is the approach behaviours can be learnt through conditioning to AT?
The addiction is a neutral stimulus that is associated with a positive feeling (CR).
AT aims to conterconditioned the person by creating a negative association (e.g. feeling sick) with the addiction (UCS).
How is operant conditioning linked to Aversion Therapy?
We avoid the addiction so we can avoid the unpleasant feeling. This maintains the abstinence which is negative reinforcement.
What is the negative effectiveness of Aversion Therapy?
It doesn’t get to the root cause.
The negative association may only treat the clients feelings towards an addiction rather than the underlying cause.
- Therefore AT is not effective as the underlying cause may present itself as a different (possibly more dangerous) behaviour/addiction - symptom substitution.
What is a positive effectiveness of Aversion Therapy
There is research evidence by Neiderhoffen and Staffen.
They compared an Antabuse group to a control group. They found that the Antabuse group had a longer period of abstinence compared to the control group.
- Therefore it is effective in treating alcohol addiction.
- However AT has been found to be more effective when paired with a talking therapy like CBT.
What is another positive effectiveness of Aversion Therapy?
Research evidence by McRobbie.
He found that pots in the rapid smoking group showed a significant decrease in the urge to some 24 hrs and then a week compared to a control group who watched a anti-smoking video.
- It is an effective stimulus in AT to break smoking addictions.
- There was no difference between the groups after 4 weeks so it’s only short term.
What is one positive ethical issue of Aversion Therapy?
There are long term benefits.
Breaking an addiction can benefit a person’s relationships, health and finances.
- Therefore it is ethical as the benefits outweigh the costs.
What is another positive ethical issue of Aversion Therapy?
There are more ethical than unethical forms of AT.
Covert Sensitisation involves the person imagining progressively bad scenarios that may occur due to their addiction.
- Kraft says it’s ethical as it avoids the unpleasant side effects of Antabuse.
What is an ethical issue of Aversion Therapy?
There is a risk of harm.
Antabuse can have very negative side effects (e.g. heart palpitations, sweating, headaches). Rapid smoking is also very unpleasant and causes risk to health.
- The therapy is unethical compared to other therapies for addiction (e.g. CBT)
- However these risks are justified in terms of risks posed by alcohol or smoking addictions without treatment.
