Behaviourist Treatment of Phobias
Treating Phobias
All behaviour is learned, therefore it may be ‘unlearned’ or extinguished.
3 The fundamental part of behavioural therapy is to learn a new association
to the phobic stimulus. This is counterconditioning. The phobic stimulus
2 is paired with relaxation instead of panic.
1 Systematic Desensitisation
This therapy aims to remove an undesirable behaviour - fear - by
replacing it with a more desirable one - relaxation.
Reciprocal Inhibition - We cannot feel fear and relaxed at the same time.
In the past, in vitro techniques involved the patient imagining themselves
to be in a frightening situation. These days, virtual reality is helping to
apply systematic desensitisation to situations that used to be difficult to
set up in a therapy session - this means that it has modernised
application.
How does it work?
. The client works out a hierarchy of fear from the least frightening to
the most frightening.
. The client learns relaxation techniques.
. Exposure - The client works through the hierarchy learning to use
relaxation techniques in the presence of the feared object.
Before SD
CS (Dog) = CR (Fear)
Treating Phobias
All behaviour is learned, therefore it may be ‘unlearned’ or extinguished.
3 The fundamental part of behavioural therapy is to learn a new association
to the phobic stimulus. This is counterconditioning. The phobic stimulus
2 is paired with relaxation instead of panic.
1 Systematic Desensitisation
This therapy aims to remove an undesirable behaviour - fear - by
replacing it with a more desirable one - relaxation.
Reciprocal Inhibition - We cannot feel fear and relaxed at the same time.
In the past, in vitro techniques involved the patient imagining themselves
to be in a frightening situation. These days, virtual reality is helping to
apply systematic desensitisation to situations that used to be difficult to
set up in a therapy session - this means that it has modernised
application.
How does it work?
. The client works out a hierarchy of fear from the least frightening to
the most frightening.
. The client learns relaxation techniques.
. Exposure - The client works through the hierarchy learning to use
relaxation techniques in the presence of the feared object.
Before SD
CS (Dog) = CR (Fear)
