Behaviourist approach to treating phobias

Question 1

How do Behaviourist therapies for phobias work

Answer 1

-Behaviourist therapies assume that phobias are learned fear associations
-These therapies attempt to replace these fear associations with relaxation

Question 2

Reciprocal inhibition

Answer 2

-Fear and relaxation are antagonistic emotions (opposite) and cannot be felt at the same time
-If the therapist can help the patient to hold the object without any fear, the patient has been successfully counter conditioned

Question 3

Systematic desensitisation (Process)

Answer 3

1.The therapist begins by teaching the client relaxation techniques e.g breathing excercises
2. The therapist then asks the client to create an anxiety hierarchy; a list of feared situations with the phobic object ranked from least to most feared
3. The therapist then exposes the client to each stage of the anxiety hierarchy, starting with the least anxiety-inducing level. The client must be fully relaxed before the therapist moves onto the next level on the anxiety hierarchy
4. Once the client can hold the phobic object without fear, the association between the phobic object and the fear response is extinct and replaced by an association with relaxation

Question 4

Flooding (Process)

Answer 4

1. Flooding attempts to counter condition a phobia with immediate and full exposure to the maximum level of a phobic stimulus (e.g the highest level of the anxiety hierarchy in systematic desensitisation)
2. The client is expected to display and extreme panic response due to the immediate exposure to the phobic stimulus (e.g running/screaming). The therapist cannot let the client escape this situation
3. Panic/fear responses require energy, and eventually the client will become exhausted and calm down in the presence of the phobic object
4. If the therpiast ends the therapy before the client reaches this point, the client will have reduced anxiety when the phobic stimulus is removed, which will reinforce the phobia

Question 5

Flooding negative evaluation (not suitable for…)

Answer 5

-A disadvantage of flooding is that, due to its stressful nature, it is not appropriate for older people, people with heart conditions, and children.
-It can also reinforce phobias if the therapy is ended before the client’s anxiety subsides

Question 6

-Advantage of systematic desensitisation (slower pace)

Answer 6

-An advantage of systematic desensitisation is that the client can control the pace, making it a more pleasurable experience as they limit their anxiety. Due to this slower pace, people are likely to do multiple sessions of systematic desensitisation compared to flooding

Question 7

-Disadvantage of both systematic desensitisation and flooding (effectiveness in real-world situations)

Answer 7

-The effectiveness of both systematic desensitisation and flooding may be limited to the controlled environment of the therapist’s office and may not translate to real world situations
-For example if a client has conquered their fear of birds with a tame bird in a therapists office, their phobia may resurface if encountering multiple wild birds in real life environments

Question 8

Negative evaluation of flooding and systematic desensitisation (only effective treating specific phobias)

Answer 8

-A disadvantage of flooding and systematic desensitisation is that they are more effective treating specific, boject-based phobias compared to phobias of social situations
-It is generally far easier to construct and progress through an anxiety hierarchy based around an object than a social situation

Question 9

Positive evaluation of behavioural therapies (drug therapies temporary)

Answer 9

-Drug therapies are considered an effective alternate treatment for treating phobias
-Howevere, due to the temporary nature and potential adverse effects of drug treatments, sufferers often prefer to use behavioural therapies