Behavioural Approach to Treating Phobias Flashcards
What are the strategies?
Systematic desensitisation
Flooding
What is SD?
Uses counterconditioning to replace fear with relaxation
How does SD work?
Patients learn a relaxation technique, such as slow deep breathing or progressive muscle relaxation.
The patient and therapist work out a hierarchy of phobic situations, from least to most feared.
The patient imagines the least feared scene whilst simultaneously relaxing. When no anxiety is experienced, fear has been desensitised.
The therapist and patient work through the hierarchy in a systematic way until the patient experiences no anxiety when imaging the most feared scene (in vitro).
In, in vivo SD, the phobic is gradually exposed to the phobic stimulus rather than imagining it or using pictures
What is flooding?
It involves a single exposure to the most feared situation.
How does flooding work?
The patient is exposed to the actual phobic stimulus or to a virtual reality version of it in one long session, until their anxiety has disappeared.
Although intense fear is initially experienced, the fear response is eventually extinguished as adrenaline levels naturally decrease.
A new stimulus-response link can be learned, and the feared stimulus is now associated with a non-anxious response.
what are the evaluative points?
Effectiveness of SD
Effectiveness of flooding
Strengths of behavioural therapies
Relaxation may not be necessary
What is meant by relaxation may not be necessary?
It may be that the success of both is more to do with exposure to the feared situation than relaxation.
For example, Klein (1983) compared SD with supportive psychotherapy for patients with either social or specific phobias.
They found no difference in effectiveness, suggesting it may simply be the generation of hopeful expectations that the phobia can be overcome.
This suggests cognitive factors are more important than the behavioural approach generally acknowledges.
What is meant by effectiveness of SD?
Research has found it is successful for a range of phobias. For example, McGrath (1990) reported that about 75% of patients with phobias respond to SD.
In vivo techniques are more successful that in vitro (Choy, 2007).
Often a number of different exposure techniques are involved - in vivo, in vitro, and also modelling, where the patient watches someone else who is coping well with the feared stimulus (Corner, 2002).
This demonstrates the effectiveness of SD but also the value of using a range of different exposure techniques.
What is meant by effectiveness of flooding?
Can be effective treatment for those who stick with it.
For example, Craske (2008) concluded that flooding and SD were equally effective in treating phobias. However, it can be highly traumatic and patients may quit during treatment.
This shows that flooding can be useful for particular individuals as long as they are aware beforehand of the distress they are likely to experience, so that they complete the treatment.
What is meant by strengths of behavioural therapies?
Generally, cheaper, faster and required less effort on the patient behalf.
E.g. CBT requires a willingness to think deeply about their mental problems.
Self administer SD - cheaper + more accessible
Means can be useful for children and people with learning difficulties.
