Identify the steps followed by Therapist for Phobias using systematic desensitization.
A. The therapist prepares a hierarchy of anxiety provoking situation
B. The therapist relaxes the client to think about the least anxiety provoking.
C. The client is interviewed to elicit fear provoking situation
D. The client is asked to stop thinking of the fearful situation if they felt slightest tense.
E. The client is also to imagine more severe fear provoking situation while maintaining relaxation, the client get systematically desensitized to fear
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → C, A, B, D, E
Systematic desensitisation, introduced by Wolpe, treats phobias or irrational fears step by step.
C. The client is interviewed to elicit fear provoking situation — The therapist first has to know what the client fears.
A. The therapist prepares a hierarchy of anxiety provoking situation — With the client, the therapist arranges these situations in a hierarchy, the least anxiety-provoking at the bottom.
B. The therapist relaxes the client to think about the least anxiety provoking. — Treatment begins at the bottom of the hierarchy, with the client relaxed.
D. The client is asked to stop thinking of the fearful situation if they felt slightest tense. — Relaxation must be kept up, so the client stops the moment tension is felt.
E. The client is also to imagine more severe fear provoking situation while maintaining relaxation, the client get systematically desensitized to fear — Over the sessions the client moves up the hierarchy while staying relaxed. By the principle of reciprocal inhibition, relaxation and anxiety cannot be present together, so the weaker one, anxiety, is inhibited.
NCERT (2025-26): “Behaviour Therapy … 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.…” “…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. The client gets systematically desensitised to the fear. The principle of reciprocal inhibition operates here. This principle states that the presence of two mutually opposing forces at the same time, inhibits the weaker force.…” |