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Specific phobias are one class of mental disorder often treated via systematic desensitization. When persons experience such phobias (for example fears of heights, dogs, snakes, closed spaces, etc.), they tend to avoid the feared stimuli; this avoidance, in turn, can temporarily reduce anxiety but is not necessarily an adaptive way of coping ...
Desensitization is commonly used with simple phobias like insect phobia. [23] [24] In addition, desensitization therapy is a useful tool in training domesticated dogs. [25] Systematic desensitization used in conjunction with counter-conditioning was shown to reduce problem behaviours in dogs, such as vocalization and property destruction. [25]
For example, a fear hierarchy for a client with public speaking fears could include various situations that might trigger fears of embarrassment or judgment like: identifying a topic for a presentation, watching others give a presentation, practicing the presentation alone, practicing the presentation in front of a small and familiar audience ...
At a post-treatment follow-up four years later 90% of people retained a considerable reduction in fear, avoidance, and overall level of impairment, while 65% no longer experienced any symptoms of a specific phobia. [15] Agoraphobia and social anxiety disorder are examples of phobias that have been successfully treated by exposure therapy. [44]
Flooding is a psychotherapeutic method for overcoming phobias. In order to demonstrate the irrationality of the fear, a psychologist would put a person in a situation where they would face their phobia. Under controlled conditions and using psychologically-proven relaxation techniques, the subject attempts to replace their fear with relaxation.
Assertiveness training proved especially useful for clients who had anxiety about social situations. However, assertiveness training did have a potential flaw in the sense that it could not be applied to other kinds of phobias. Wolpe's use of reciprocal inhibition led to his discovery of systematic desensitization.
Behaviour therapy techniques can be used to deal with any phobias that a person may have. [75] Desensitization has also been successfully applied to other issues such as dealing with anger, if a person has trouble sleeping and certain speech disorders. Desensitization does not occur over night, there is a process of treatment.
Systematic desensitization—A therapy that exposes the person to increasing levels of vivid stimuli gradually and frequently, while instructed to relax. [17] Flooding—A therapy that exposes the person with a specific phobia to the most fearful stimulus first (i.e. the most intense part of the phobia). Patients are at great risk for dropping ...