treatment for phobias

• aim: treat girl with specific noise phobias using systematic desensitisation
• method: case study
• pps: Lucy 9yrs with fear of sudden loud noises. lower than av. IQ, wasnt depressed
• procedure: constructed hierarchy of feared noises
• taught breathing + imagery to relax - imagine herself at home on bed with her toys
• had hypothetical fear thermometer for rating fear 1-10
• given stimulus of loud noise she paired feared object with relaxation and imagery
• this lead to feelings of calmness so she associated the noise with feeling calm
• findings: after 4 sessions she learned to feel calm when noise was presented + didnt need to use imagery
• 10th and final session fear thermometer scores gone from 7/10 to 3/10 for ballons
• 9/10 to 3/10 for party poppers
• 8/10 to 5/10 for cap guns
• conclusions: important factors - giving lucy control to say when/where noises made
• using inhibitors of fear response (relaxation and playful environment)

Aim: to see if the drug phenelzine can help teart patients with social phobias

Methodology: controlled experiment, randomly allocated to one of three conditions, treated over 8 weeks. assessed using hamilton rating scale and leibowitz social phobia scale.

Patients: 80 patients aged-18-50 years meeting the DSM criteria for social phobia. each assessed to make sure they didnt have any other disorder, gave consent

Design: independent measures design, allocated to one of 4 conditions, phenelzine group, control group taking placebo drug, atenolol group, matching placebo group.

Procodure: patients assessed before the experiement, after the experiement and then a follow up, patients were given the drugs, and the dosage increased with the drug group. Reassessed using self report methods.

Findings: after the 8 weeks, significant changes for the patients in the phenelzine group with better scores for anxiety. no significant difference with the atenolol group and placebo group

conclusion: phenelzine is effective when treating a social phobia.

aim: to compare cbt with applied relaxation as therapies for panic disorder

methodology: longitudinal

participants: 38 patients- 26 females 12 males aged 23-45 years, diagnosed with a panic disorder using the DSM, recruited through referrals and newspaper ads, 

design: independent measures design, random allocation to cog therapy or applied relaxation 

Procedure: pre-treatment assesments using panic attack scale. Patients recorded in a diary of the date and situation for every attack, 12 weeks of treatment of 50-60 minutes