Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Flooding, sometimes referred to as in vivo exposure therapy, is a form of behavior therapy and desensitization – or exposure therapy – based on the principles of respondent conditioning. As a psychotherapeutic technique, it is used to treat phobia and anxiety disorders including post-traumatic stress disorder .
An abbreviated example of an exposure hierarchy is pictured in Image 1. Image 1: Exposure hierarchy example for treating public speaking fears. When exposure to an item at the bottom of the hierarchy leads to moderately reduced distress or increased tolerance, a client progresses up the hierarchy to more and more difficult exposures.
Exposure and response prevention (also known as exposure and ritual prevention; ERP or EX/RP) is a variant of exposure therapy that is recommended by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), the American Psychiatric Association (APA), and the Mayo Clinic as first-line treatment of OCD citing that it has the richest ...
The goal of the therapy is for the individual to learn how to cope with and overcome their fear in each level of an exposure hierarchy. The process of systematic desensitization occurs in three steps. The first step is to identify the hierarchy of fears. The second step is to learn relaxation or coping techniques.
When OCD becomes severe, this leads to more interference in life and continues the frequency and severity of the thoughts the person sought to avoid. [21] Exposure therapy (or exposure and response prevention) is the practice of staying in an anxiety-provoking or feared situation until the distress or anxiety diminishes.
The imaginal exposure typically occurs during the therapy session and consists of retelling the trauma to the therapist. For the in vivo exposure, the clinician works with the client to establish a fear and avoidance hierarchy and typically assigns exposures to these list items as homework progressively.
Reciprocal inhibition is based on the idea that two opposing mental states cannot coexist and is used as both a psychological and biological mechanism. [13] The theory that "two opposing states cannot occur simultaneously" i.e. relaxation methods that are involved with desensitization inhibit feelings of anxiety that come with being exposed to phobic stimuli. [13]
OCD Awareness Week was launched in 2009 by the International OCD Foundation. [2] Its goal is an international effort to raise awareness and understanding about Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) and related disorders and to help get more people access to treatment for the condition. [2] It takes place in the second week of October each year.