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Behavioural Treatments for Phobias - Coggle Diagram
Behavioural Treatments for Phobias
key assumptions
Systematic Desensitisation
1) patient is taught muscle relaxation and breathing techniques.
2) therapist and patients constructed hierarchy of anxiety provoking situations.
3) gradually works their way through the hierarchy practicing relaxation at each stage.
4) once the patient has mastered their anxiety they move onto the next step.
5) patient masters their feared situation when they reach the top of the hierarchy
where people are gradually desensitised to a feared object or situation. this is gradual exposure from the least up to the most feared situation
Treating Phobias
behavioural therapies are based on the principles of classical conditioning. treating the phobia requires breaking the association between the phobic stimulus and the anxiety/avoidance response.
A patient is taught (through classical conditioning) to associate the phobic stimulus with a new response i.e relaxation instead of fear.
Behavioural therapies involve exposure to the feared stimulus or situation through counter-conditioning
the patient is exposed to the phobic stimulus in either: in vitro desensitisation (imagined exposure to the phobic stimulus) or in vivo desensitisation (actual exposure to the phobic stimulus)
Flooding
1) patient is taught muscle relaxation and breathing techniques.
2) relaxation techniques are applied in one session in thee presence of the most feared situation. lasts 2-3 hours
3) a persons fear response and adrenaline has a time limit. as adrenaline levels naturally decrease, a new stimulus-response link can be learned between the feared stimulus and relaxation
4)patient masters the feared situation.
patients go straight to the top of the hierarchy. they have direct contact or imagine their feared stimulus
effectiveness :)
Jones 1924 = used SD to eradicate 'little Peters' phobia of white fluffy animals and objects ie. rabbits.
the rabbit was presented at closer distances each time his anxiety levels subsided.
Peter was rewarded with food to develop a positive association towards the rabbit.
He developed affection for the rabbit which then generalised into similar things.
This means that SD is helpful to treating people with phobias.
SD is successful for treating a range of phobic treatments
in vitro :(
some individuals lack the ability to imagine the feared situation so might still experience a fear response when they confront the actual object/situation.
SD - in vitro - requires a very vivid imagination. in vivo (actual exposure) techniques have found to be more effective and longer lasting than in vitro
the patient is exposed to the phobic stimulus in either: in vitro desensitisation (imagined exposure to the phobic stimulus) or in vivo desensitisation (actual exposure to the phobic stimulus)
cost effective :)
clinical effectiveness means how effective a therapy is at tackling a symptoms. a therapy is cost-effective if it is clinically effective and not expensive.
Flooding can work in as little as one session as opposed to around ten sessions for SD to achieve the same result. even if the session is longer (3 hours) this makes flooding more cost effective
one strength of flooding is that it is highly cost effective
this means that more people can be treated at the same cost with flooding than SD/other therapies
traumatic :(
in this treatment the patient has to confront their phobic stimulus which will provoke extreme anxiety.
Schumacher (2015) found that patients and therapists rated flooding as significantly more stressful than SD.
flooding is a highly unpleasant experience
Due to all of these factors, therapists may tend to avoid this treatment.
This raises an ethical issue as psychologist knowingly cause stress to their client. this is not to serious if the psychologist gets informed consent
as this experience is still traumatic it may lead to ppts dropping out, making the attrition (dropout) rates higher than SD.