Treating Abnormality: Systematic Desensitisation

Question 1

What is systematic desensitisation and what does it aim to do?

Answer 1

It is a behavioural therapy that is used with phobias. It uses classical conditioning to replace irrational fears/anxieties associated with phobic objects with the response of relaxation. The idea is that is impossible to experience both fear and relaxation at the same time.

Question 2

What is in-vivo systematic desensitisation?

Answer 2

Where the patient is exposed to the actual object or situation that they are afraid of.

Question 3

What is in-vitro systematic desensitisation?

Answer 3

Where the patient IMAGINES being exposed to the object or situation they are afraid of.

Question 4

Explain (step by step) the process of systematic desensitisation?

Answer 4

1. A patient is taught how to relax their muscles completely and to reach a completely relaxed state.
2. Together, therapist and patient construct a desensitisation hierarchy, which is a series of steps, each one causing more anxiety than the previous one.
3. The patient works their way through the desensitisation hierarchy, experiencing each event while engaging in the relaxation techniques they were taught.
4. Once the patient has mastered a step, they move to the next one. If they cannot master a stage, they move back a step until they are ready to try again.
5. The patient eventually masters the situation/object that they feared.

Question 5

What are the strengths of systematic desensitisation?

Answer 5

1. Research has shown it to be effective in the treatment of simple phobias and panic attacks.
2. Behavioural therapies in general are quick and require less effort on the patient’s part than other psychotherapies.

Question 6

What are the limitations of systematic desensitisation?

Answer 6

1. In-vivo systematic desensitisation is seen as unethical, as it requires the patient to directly confront their phobia, which can be extremely distressing. Patients should be carefully monitored to make sure that they don’t come to psychological harm, or in-vitro should be used, where they only imagine being with the feared object.
2. The psychodynamic model claims that the therapy only treats symptoms, and doesn’t look for the actual cause of the abnormality. They argue that if the cause isn’t resolved, the abnormality will only come back, but it will show itself in a different way.