aims of SD
- Treat phobias through the process of counter conditioning
- using principles of classical conditioning to ‘relearn’ the association to the phobic stimuli, replacing the fear response with relaxation ( reciprocal inhibition)
step 1 to SD
RELAXATION TECHNIQUES
mental imagery: thinking and imagining your self in your ‘happy place’ somewhere you feel safe and can relax
progressive muscle relaxation: squeeze muscles from feet to shoulders+ exhale +not muscle +exert stress
stage 2 of SD
therapist of client WORK TOGETHER to construct an anxiety hierarchy
- series of scenes or images from least fearful to most fearful
stage 3 of SD
Client gradually works through the hierarchy, at each anxiety-provoking situation they utilise their RT, due to reciprocal inhibition, should be able to visualise the situ
-In Vivo (irl)
-In Vitro
stage 4 of SD
- Client moves onto next step in the hierarchy n are relaxed, when this is mastered the client moves on again,
- Therapy moves at pace of the client decision ( graduated exposure)
- Treatment successful when the client can stay relaxed high on hierarchy
- Method should be generalised to similar stimuli outside of therapeutic enviro
application of assumptions: humans born a blank slate
- We are not born with phobias
-Phobias are shaped by our experiences with our enviro and our interactions w others around us - our environment can be manipulated to unlearn fear response to phobic stimulus
- SD allows people to learn a new response to their phobic stimulus , of relaxation.
application of assumption: behaviour is learnt through conditioning
- Phobias are developed thru CC and maintained through operant
-We can unlearn conditioned responses by manipulating the enviro through counter c - feared stimuli conditioned thru therapy to be associated with relaxation , extinction of fear response
- Fear replaced with relaxation ( reciprocal inhibition)
effectiveness evaluation : Lang & Lazovik
- used SD with students who had a snake phobias , worked through 11 sessions at hierarchy, participants ratings fell from start to end , SD found to be effective for most and improvement evident 6 months.
Rothbaum
used in vitro to help those who were afraid of flying, with SD treatment 93% of p’s agreed to take a test flight, anxiety levels lower than those of a control group who hadn’t received SD and improvement was maintained.
McGrath
Found SD successful for wide range of anxiety disorders , 75% responded to treatment, SD on a 9yr old girl who had a noise phobia. Fear thermometer used, Fear rating dropped from 7 to 3 for balloons popping, from 9 to 3 for party poppers , 8 to 5 for cap guns
strengths of SD
-research supporting its effectiveness
- less effective at treating phobias that may have been dangerous in our pasts
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