The behavioural approach to treating phobias
- Created by: jessicawarren
- Created on: 04-05-16 19:57
View mindmap
- The behavioural approach to treating phobias
- Theory
- If a behaviour can be learned, it can be unlearned
- Aim of therapy to alter behaviour using principles of conditioning
- Systematic desensitisation
- Gradually reduces anxiety through classical conditioning
- Anxiety hierarchy relaxation exposure
- 1: Anxiety hierarchy- list of situations related to phobic stimulus that provoke anxieties. Least --> most scary
- 2: Relaxation- Therapist teaches patient to relax through breathing exercises/ mental imagery
- 3: Exposure- Patient exposed to phobic stimulus in relaxed state starting at bottom of hierarchy and working up
- Flooding
- Patient exposed to extreme form of phobic stimulus
- Reduces anxiety triggered by that particular stimulus
- Takes place across small number of long therapy sessions
- Important that patients give informed consent
- Stops responses quickly as avoidance behaviour cannot be performed
- Evaluation
- Research shows SD effective in treatment of specific phobias- Gilroy followed 42 patients who'd been treated for spider phobia in three 45min sessions of SD Control group w/o exposure. At both 3 and 33 months after, SD less fearful than control group
- Alternatives to SD not well suited to some patients. Some sufferers also have learning difficulties so do not understand what is going on. SD most effective
- Patients prefer SD. Does not cause same degree of trauma as flooding. Low refusal/ attrition rates of SD
- Flooding works as well as other therapies. Study comparing it to other cognitive therapies found flooding to be highly effective/quicker than other alternatives. Treatment is cheaper
- Less effective for complex phobias e.g social- have cognitive elements
- Flooding is highly traumatic experience. Time and money waster when patients do not see treatment through
- Theory
Comments
No comments have yet been made