Kavya has an irrational fear of travelling in lifts. Her therapist treats her with systematic desensitisation. Arrange the following steps of the treatment in the order in which they take place:
(A) The therapist relaxes Kavya and asks her to think about the least anxiety-provoking situation.
(B) Kavya is interviewed to find out the situations that provoke her fear.
(C) Over sessions, Kavya imagines more severe fear-provoking situations while staying relaxed.
(D) Kavya and the therapist prepare a hierarchy of anxiety-provoking stimuli, the least one at the bottom.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → B, D, A, C
(B) Kavya is interviewed to find out the situations that provoke her fear. — First. First. <strong>The interview comes first</strong>, because the therapist must learn which situations provoke the fear before anything can be ranked.
(D) Kavya and the therapist prepare a hierarchy of anxiety-provoking stimuli, the least one at the bottom. — Second. Second. The fear-provoking situations from the interview are <strong>ranked into a hierarchy</strong>, with the least anxiety-provoking stimulus at the bottom.
(A) The therapist relaxes Kavya and asks her to think about the least anxiety-provoking situation. — Third. Third. Once the hierarchy is ready, the client is first relaxed and then <strong>imagines only the mildest situation</strong> at the bottom of it.
(C) Over sessions, Kavya imagines more severe fear-provoking situations while staying relaxed. — Fourth. Last. Step by step, over sessions, the client <strong>moves up to more severe situations while keeping relaxed</strong>, and so gets systematically desensitised.
Note: Systematic desensitisation was introduced by Wolpe for treating phobias or irrational fears.
NCERT (2026-27): “Behavioural Techniques … |