A person named Z is afraid of heights. Due to this immense fear, she avoids going to mountains or even to a friend who lives in a high rise building. Everyone is very concerned for her and wants to help her. In this case, which behavioral technique is best suited for psychotherapy?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Systematic desensitization
Option (1) Systematic desensitization — Correct. Z has a phobia, an irrational fear of heights that makes her avoid mountains and high-rise buildings. Wolpe’s technique is meant for treating phobias or irrational fears: with the client, the therapist prepares a hierarchy of anxiety-provoking situations, and the relaxed client imagines them one by one, from the least to the most frightening, while staying relaxed.
Option (2) Token economy — Incorrect. It rewards a wanted behaviour with tokens that are exchanged later. It builds up behaviours that occur rarely; it does not remove a fear.
Option (3) Modelling — Incorrect. The client learns by observing a role model and is rewarded for small changes. It can help with fears, but the technique made for phobias is systematic desensitisation.
Option (4) Aversive conditioning — Incorrect. It pairs an undesired response with an unpleasant consequence, as in treating alcoholism. Z already fears heights; adding pain would make her worse.
NCERT (2025-26): “Behavioural Techniques … Aversive conditioning refers to repeated association of undesired response with an aversive consequence. For example, an alcoholic is given a mild electric shock and asked to smell the alcohol. With repeated pairings the smell of alcohol is aversive as the pain of the shock is associated with it and the person will give up alcohol.…” “…Persons with behavioural problems can be given a token as a reward every time a wanted behaviour occurs. The tokens are collected and exchanged for a reward such as an outing for the patient or a treat for the child. This is known as token economy.” “…Systematic desensitisation is a technique introduced by Wolpe for treating phobias or irrational fears. The client is interviewed to elicit fear provoking situations and together with the client, the therapist prepares a hierarchy of anxiety-provoking stimuli with the least anxiety-provoking stimuli at the bottom of the hierarchy. The therapist relaxes the client and asks the client to think about the least anxiety-provoking situation. Box 5.2 gives details of relaxation procedures. The client is asked to stop thinking of the fearful situation if the slightest tension is felt. Over sessions, the client is able to imagine more severe fear -provoking situations while maintaining the relaxation.…” “…Modelling is the procedure wherein the client learns to behave in a certain way by observing the behaviour of a role model or the therapist who initially acts as the role model. Vicarious learning, i.e. learning by observing others, is used and through a process of rewarding small changes in the behaviour, the client gradually learns to acquire the behaviour of the model.…” |