Behavioural Approach To Treating Phobias

Question 1

What is extinction?

Answer 1

The gradual weakening of a conditioned response that results in the behaviour decreasing when a conditioned stimulus is no longer paired with an unconditioned stimulus.

Question 2

What is counterconditioning?

Answer 2

When a patient is taught, through classical conditioning, a new association that runs counter to the original association.

Question 3

What are the two ways behavioural psychologists use to treat phobias?

Answer 3

1. Systematic desensitisation
2. Flooding.

Question 4

What is systematic desensitisation (SD)?

Answer 4

A form of behavioural therapy based on classical conditioning whereby a client is gradually exposed to the phobic stimulus using a hierarchy, under relaxed conditions until the anxiety reaction is extinguished.

Question 5

Explain the three stages involved in systematic desensitisation.

Answer 5

1. Anxiety hierarchy - A list of situations related to phobic stimulus in order from least to most frightening
2. Relaxation techniques - Such as breathing mental imagery. Works through reciprocal inhibition (relaxation prevents the emotion of fear)
3. Gradual exposure - work through hierarchy using relaxation techniques until client is ready to confront real fear.

Question 6

What are four examples of relaxation techniques?

Answer 6

1. Breathing exercises
2. Mental imagery
3. Muscle relaxation
4. Anti-anxiety drugs.

Question 7

What is flooding?

Answer 7

A form of behavioural therapy whereby a client is exposed to an extreme form of the phobic stimulus under relaxed conditions until the anxiety reaction is extinguished.

Question 8

Briefly outline one difference between flooding and systematic desensitisation.

Answer 8

Exposure to the phobic stimulus is gradual with SD, whereas with flooding the exposure is immediate.

Question 9

1 Strength 1Limitation of Systematic desensitisation.

Answer 9

Research evidence for effectiveness:
Research has found that SD is successful for a range of phobias. Its been reported that about 75% of patients with phobias respond to SD.

Not appropriate for all phobias:
Researchers have suggested that SD may not be as effective in treating phobias that have an underlying evolutionary survival component (e.g. fear of the dark, fear of heights etc.), than in treating phobias which have been acquired as a result of personal experience. This suggests that SD can only be used effectively in tackling some phobias and not all.

Question 10

1 Strength 1 Limitation for Flooding

Answer 10

Cost-effective:
Studies comparing flooding with other cognitive therapies
(such as Cognitive-behavioural therapy) have found that flooding is highly effective and quicker. This quick effect
means that patients are free of their symptoms as soon as possible and that makes the treatment cheaper. Flooding can work in as little as one session as opposed to say ten sessions for SD to achieve the same result.

Traumatic for patients: Flooding produces high levels of fear and this can be very traumatic for the patient. Therefore, patients are often unwilling to see it through to the end which reduces the ultimate effectiveness of the therapy for some people. Individual differences in responding to flooding therefore limit the effectiveness of the therapy.

Question 11

1 Strength 1 Limitation of behavioural therapies

Answer 11

Suitable for diverse range of patients:
Effective for all types of patients as it requires little
effort on patient’s part.
CBT requires a willingness for people to think deeply about their mental problems, which is not true for behavioural therapies. This lack of ‘thinking’ means that the technique is useful for people who lack insight into their motivations or emotions, such as children and patients with learning difficulties.

Symptom substitution: Behavioural therapies may not work with certain phobias. If the symptoms are removed the cause still remains, and the symptoms will simply resurface, possibly in another form (known as symptom substitution).
In the case of Little Hans who developed a phobia of horses. The boy’s actual problem was an intense envy of his father, but could not express this directly and his anxiety was projected onto the horse. The phobia was cured when he accepted his feelings about his father. Behavioural therapies would struggle to treat this phobia. Need to treat the underlying causes of a phobia rather than just the symptoms.