Question

Briefly describe what is involved in the three-step process of systematic desensitization.

Answer 1

Answer:

Relaxation

Constructing an anxiety hierarchy

Pairing relaxation with the situations described in the anxiety hierarchy

• The first step of systematic desensitization is learning to relax. If an individual is afraid of something, e.g. spiders, he needs to learn to relax when he faces the object of his fear. A common relaxation technique is deep breathing or chest breathing.

• The second step. In this step of systematic desensitization, the patient is asked to list 10-15 triggers of a specific phobia or situation and rate each trigger from 0-10 where 0 represents no anxiety at all and 10 represents extreme anxiety. The patient will then rate each of the above steps from 0-10 according to the level of his anxiety.

• The third step.In this step of systematic desensitization, the patient is asked to imagine himself being exposed to his object of fear or a fearful situation. For the patient who is afraid of spiders, he is advised to close his eyes and imagine himself in a room alone with a huge spider. When he feels anxious, he is asked to practice the relaxation exercise. After each imaginal exposure, the patient is asked to rate his fear of spiders. When the patient’s rating for the fear drops to a specific value, the therapist moves toward the next step of the anxiety hierarchy. For example, the patient is asked to look at images of spiders or even a dead spider. The therapy continues until the patient feels no fear when he is exposed to real spiders. The patient is advised to practice deep breathing and other relaxation exercises whenever he is exposed to spiders so that his anxiety will gradually be replaced with relaxation.

Explanation:

Systematic desensitization is a form of behaviour therapy. Based on the principles of classical conditioning, the systematic desensitization technique is proved to be excellent in dealing with different phobias and anxiety disorder such as panic disorder.According to systematic desensitization, a learned response, e.g. fear of spiders, can be unlearned through classical conditioning and a new response, e.g. relax when seeing a spider, can be induced. For example, if a person is afraid of spiders and whenever he sees a spider, he feels anxious. His fear of spiders can be gradually “unlearned” by using the systematic desensitization technique. For example, his anxiety could be replaced by relaxation.

Systematic desensitization can be self-administered but it is advisable that the patient consults a therapist.

Answer 2

Answer:

Answer on edg is:

Step one involves building what is referred to as an anxiety hierarchy, which is a list of all the stimuli that are related to the particular phobia. The client would rank each of these stimuli in order of the amount of anxiety experienced, from least to greatest. Step two is where the therapist trains the client in several forms of relaxation techniques. Step three involves working through the anxiety hierarchy. Starting with the least anxiety-inducing stimulus, the client practices remaining relaxed as the stimulus is imagined. Each item on the list must be conquered before moving on to the next item.