Treatments for phobias

Question 1

Systematic desensitisation

Answer 1

• A behavioural therapy designed to reduce an unwanted response, such as anxiety to a stimulus
• SD involves drawing up a hierarchy of anxiety provoking situation related to phobic stimulus teaching a client to relax and then exposing them to phobic situation
• The client works their way through the hierarchy whilst maintaining relaxation

Question 2

Flooding

Answer 2

• A behavioural therapy in which a phobic client is exposed to an extreme form of phobic stimulus in order to reduce anxiety triggered by that stimulus
• This takes place across small number of long therapy session

Question 3

The anxiety hierachy

Answer 3

• A list of situation related to the phobic stimulus that provoke anxiety is arranged in order from least to most frightening

Question 4

Relaxation

Answer 4

• Therapist teacher the client to relax as deeply as possible
• This might involve breathing exercises or client might learn mental imagery technique
• Or relaxation can be achieved using drugs such as Valium

Question 5

Exposure

Answer 5

• The client is exposed to the phobic stimulus while in a relaxed state
• This takes place across several session starting at the bottom of the anxiety hierarchy
• When the client can stay relaxed in the presence of the lower levels of the phobic stimulus they move up the hierarchy

Question 6

How does flooding work?

Answer 6

• Flooding stop phobic responses very quickly
• The client cannot avoid but learns that the phobic stimulus is harmless

Question 7

Strength of SD

Answer 7

• A strength of SD is that is it an effective treatment of specific phobias
• Researchers find that most individuals receiving SD improve in therapy more than those who didn’t receive treatment
• This treatment therefore is a viable useful therapy for phobias improving the quality of life of those with those irrational fears

Question 8

Weakness of SD

Answer 8

• A weakness of SD is that it has limitation as it is not able to fully treat all phobias
• Some fears such as the fear of the dark or dangerous animals are not affected by SD as these fear may be too ingrained in our survival instincts
• The treatment is only effective regarding specific situation or objects
• Therefore this treatment is not the most appropriate way to treat a minority of patients