Learning Objectives To be able to apply knowledge of behavioural therapies to ‘real life’ cases of patients Do Now: You are going to have a short test on the definition of phobias, look through your notes for this area to help you prepare!

Starter: test 1: What are the 3 named categories of phobia we study? 2: What is the key term for your body’s automatic response to a fearful situation? 3:When does a fear become a phobia? 4: What is the manual called which is used to diagnose mental illness? 5: Name two of the subtypes of specific phobias 6: Name one symptom of a specific phobia.

Starter: answers 1: What are the 3 named categories of phobia we study? Specific, social, agoraphobia 2: What is the key term for your body’s automatic response to a fearful situation? Fight or flight response 3:When does a fear become a phobia? When it becomes maladaptive (interferes with day to day life) 4: What is the manual called which is used to diagnose mental illness? DSM-IVR 5: Name two of the subtypes of specific phobias (any from animal, natural environment, blood / injection / injury, situational, atypical) 6: Name one symptom of a specific phobia (any from ‘excessive or unreasonable relative to the danger posed’, ‘triggered immediately on exposure to the object or situation’, ‘interferes with day to day functioning’)

Introduction How does this video relate to what you have learnt about behavioural treatments so far? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y8VKs3__cA&feature=related

Main You need to be able to apply the knowledge you have about behavioural treatments in preparation for: (a) short answer scenario based questions (b) to have an example ready to use for an essay We’ll go through an example together using the man who had a specific phobia of beans

Things you must include (phobias)…. That systematic desensitisation is based on the idea that two competing emotions cannot be experienced at the same time so the aim is to reduce the fear response with relaxation The patient is trained in relaxation techniques so that they can relax quickly The patient and therapist construct an anxiety hierarchy this is where the patients feared situations are ranked from the least to the most anxiety provoking (and provide an example of what the most and least frightening things would be) The patient relaxes and then imagines the least frightening case, once they can do this without anxiety the next most frightening will be imagined whilst trying to remain as relaxed as possible This continues until the patient reaches the top of the hierarchy

Essay: Jan 2009 d) Describe how systematic desensitisation might be used to treat a specific phobia such as a phobia of spiders. Evaluate the use of systematic desensitisation to treat phobias. (10 marks)

Mark Scheme [AO1 = 5 AO2 = 5] AO1Up to 5 marks for description of systematic desensitisation. Programme includes relaxation training for patient, description of construction of hierarchy of anxieties with example, gradual exposure from least to most frightening stage with relaxation replacing fear as the response. Pairing of feared object with pleasant stimulus. Can be carried out in vivo or imagined. Credit description of relevant evidence up to 2 marks. AO2Up to 5 marks for discussion of the effectiveness of systematic desensitisation. Application of knowledge of the programme to specific phobia. Analysis of how programme works – based on premise that fear and relaxation cannot exist together – they are competing emotions. Evaluation of the programme including support from studies and comparison with the other treatments such as VRET – cheaper, easier and equally effective. Limitations of the therapy – cannot be applied to generalised social phobia. Works well in therapeutic situation but may not always generalise to everyday life situations. Credit use of relevant evidence up to 2 marks.

Applying our knowledge There are several case studies around the room Your job is to apply your knowledge of behavioural therapies – either systematic desensitisation or VREP to the scenarios Try to use a combination of therapies according to which you think might be the most appropriate for them You will have 5 minutes per station to write up your response for the case study

Reviewing our knowledge Gareth Denzel Julia Sarah

Plenary Write a sentence to summarise your learning today which is no more than 140 characters @MissEarl today I have learnt…..