Treating phobias

What is systematic desensitisation (SD)

a behavioural therapy designed to reduce an unwanted response such as anxiety

• It involves drawing up a hierarchy of anxiety provoking situations in relation to a persons phobia

• This teaches the person to relax

How many staged is SD split into

3 stages

1. anxiety hierarchy

2. relaxation

3. exposure

What is stage 1

The anxiety hierarchy = put together by a client with phobia and therapist => situations related to the phobic stimulus which provoke anxiety from least to most frightening

E.g. a person with arachnophobia may identify a picture of a small spider as low on their anxiety hierarchy and holding a tarantula at the top of the hierarchy

What is stage 2

Relaxation = the therapist teaches the client to relax as deeply as possible => impossible to be afraid and relaxed at the same time => one emotion prevents the other

What is stage 3

Exposure = the client is actually exposed to the feared object or situation/ phobic stimulus while in relaxed state

• Takes place over several sessions starting from bottom to top of the hierarchy

• Treatment is successful when the client can stay relaxed in situations high on the anxiety hierarchy

 

What are some strengths of systematic desensitisation as a way for treating phobias

Systematic desensitisation is evidence based

• Odgers et al. carried out a meta analysis of studies

• Looking at the effectiveness of exposure therapies for treating specific phobias

• Exposure = found as very effective way of treating phobias

Means that systematic desensitisation = likely to be helpful for people with phobias

What are some limitations of systematic desensitisation as a way for treating phobias

Systematic desensitisation = has limited application => it is less effective for people with particular cognitive characteristics

- Bohnlein et al. looked at 111 different studies of exposure therapies and found that exposure = less effective for certain groups of people

 - specifically people with low self-efficacy (your perceived ability to achieve a goal) and  people with high trait anxiety (feeling more anxious)

 This means that the exposure part of the SD may not work

 

What is flooding

a behavioural therapy in which a person with a phobia is exposed to an extreme form of a phobic stimulus in order to reduce anxiety triggered by that stimulus

What is the process of flooding

• Takes place over long therapy sessions over a short period of time to eliminate the phobia

• Flooding stops phobic responses quickly

• Client must give fully informed consent as it is fairly unethical and traumatic

 

What are some strengths of flooding as a way of treating phobias

It is highly cost effective

• It is clinically effective and not expensive

• Flooding can work in as little as one session to cure a phobia as oppose to 10 SD sessions to achieve the same/ similar response

• Even allowing for longer sessions makes flooding more effective

This means that the more people can be treated at the same cost with flooding than with SD or other therapies

What are some limitations of flooding as a way of treating phobias

Flooding is a highly unpleasant experience

- it is traumatic for an individual to confront their phobic stimulus as it can provoke extreme amounts of anxiety

 - researchers found that participants and therapists rated flooding as significantly more stressful that SD

 - this raises the ethical issue for psychologists of knowingly causing stress to their clients

- even though the participant has given informed consent

 - the traumatic nature of flooding means that attrition (dropout) rates are higher than for SD

This suggests that overall, therapists may avoid using this treatment