'Systematic desensitisation' is a technique used to treat:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Phobias
Option (1) Phobias — Correct. Systematic desensitisation was introduced by Wolpe for treating phobias or irrational fears. The therapist and client list fear-provoking situations from the least to the most frightening. The client is relaxed and imagines them one by one, stopping at the slightest tension. Relaxation and anxiety cannot be present together (reciprocal inhibition), so over sessions the client becomes systematically desensitised to the fear.
Option (2) Depression — Incorrect. Depression is a period of depressed mood and/or loss of interest or pleasure in most activities. It is not a fear tied to an object or situation; it is treated by therapies that change negative thoughts, such as Beck’s cognitive therapy.
Option (3) Schizophrenia — Incorrect. It is a psychotic disorder in which thought, emotion and behaviour are disturbed: delusions, hallucinations, disorganised speech, flat affect. The problem is not one learned fear, so a technique built on a hierarchy of feared situations does not fit it.
Option (4) Bipolar disorder — Incorrect. It involves mania and depression, alternately present, sometimes with periods of normal mood. It is a disorder of mood, not an irrational fear to be unlearned step by step.
Note: A similar question was also asked in CUET (UG) 2026 on 29-05-2026 (Slot 2).
NCERT (2025-26): “Behavioural Techniques … 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 anxietyprovoking 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. The client gets systematically desensitised to the fear.…” |