therapy for phobias Flashcards
what is systematic desensitization?
a treatment forphobiasin which the patient is exposed toprogressivelymore anxiety-provokingstimuliand taught relaxation techniques
what are the four stages of systematic desensitization?
1) funtiional analysis
2) construction of anxiety hierachy
3) relaxation training
4) gradual exposure
what is flooding?
- the process of “flooding” or overwhelming an individuals senses with thoughts images and objects about their phobia
how does flooding work?
by extinguishing the learned response when the CS is encountered without the UCS
what is (1) functional analysis?
careful questioning to discover the nature of the phobia and its possible triggers
e.g how does it make you feel?
what is (2) construction of an anxiety hierarchy?
where the client and therapist derive a hierarchy of anxiety-provoking situations from least to most fearful
e.g picturing an object to touching it
what is (3) relaxation training?
where people are taught anything that would help them to relax
e.g to relax their muscles, to imagine happy scenarios and meditate
what is (4) gradual exposure?
where the stages are combined and the therapy begins
s.d can be in vitro or vivo, what does that mean?
• vivo - exposure to the object
• vitro - imaginary exposure to the object
what is reciprol inhibition?
the idea you can’t feel two opposing emotions therefore anxiety and relaxation can’t be felt at the same time
what is ‘no escape’ ?
preventing the patient from making their normal escape route
what is rapid exposure?
the assumption that the flooding approach will help extinguish the phobias as the patient will become too physically exhausted for the conditioned response to occur
what is implosion?
where patients are bombarded with detailed descriptions of the situation that they fear
what is relaxation?
where the therapist offers little assistance other than to help the patient use relaxation techniques
