treating phobia- behavioural

Question 1

Flooding

Answer 1

• one long session
• patient experiences their phobia at its worst while at the same time practising relaxation
• the session continues until the patient is fully relaxed
• can be conducted in vivo or virtual reality
  1) learn relaxation techniques which is applied in the presence of the most feared situation: lasts 2 hrs
• a person’s fear response and the release of adrenaline has a time limit
• adrenaline levels naturally decrease, new stimulus-response link can be learned between feared stimulus and relaxation

Question 2

systematic desensitisation

Answer 2

WOLPE

• Counterconditioning: patient is taught a new association that runs counter to the original association
• taught through classical conditioning to associate the phobic stimulus w a new response.
• anxiety is reduced= they’re desensitised
• this is ‘reciprocal inhibition’ as the response of relaxation inhibits response of anxiety
  1) relaxation tech: breathe slowly, being mindful and muscle relaxation
  2) patient and therapist construct a desensitisation hierarchy : a series of imagined scenes, each increased anxiety level
  3) patients gradually work through desensitisation hierarchy by mastering each step
  4) patient fully mastered the phobic situation

Question 3

effectiveness of SD and Flooding

Answer 3

SD
-MCGRATH et al: 75% of patients w phobias respond to SD
-key to success appears to lie w actual contact with the feared stimulus= in vivo tech more successful than in vitro
FLOODING
- those who chose flooding tend to be satisfied w process and outcome
-CHOY ET AL: both effective but flooding is more effective.

Question 4

strength of behavioural therapies

Answer 4

• relatively fast and require less effort on patient’s part then other psychotherapies
• eg CBT requires a lot of willpower from the patient in trying to understand their behaviour and apply these insights
• this lack of ‘thinking’ means that the technique is useful for people who lack insight into their motivations eg dyslexia
• SD is self-administered- a method that has proved success with
• self administered just as effective as therapist-guided therapy = cheaper

Question 5

individual diff in flooding

Answer 5

• may not be for every patient as it can be a highly traumatic procedure
• even though patients are made aware of this beforehand, they still quit during the treatment
• this reduces the ultimate effectiveness of the therapy for some.

Question 6

symtom substitution

Answer 6

-behavioural therapies may not work w certain phobias as the symptoms are only the two of the iceberg
-if symptoms are removed the cause still remains and symptoms will resurface in another form.
-eg psychodynamic approach: phobias develop due to projection
FREUD:
-little Hans developed a phobia or horses.
-actual prob was an intense envy of his father but he couldn’t express this directly and his anxiety projected onto the horse.
-phobia was cured when he accepted his feelings about his father
-if therapist had treated the horse phobia the underlying prob might’ve remained and resurfaced someone else.