In chapters 5 and 9 of our book we learn about phobias. More specifically we learn about how they develop and how they can be treated. This is of particular interest to me because I have dealt with a phobia for most of my life. At the risk of not sounding manly in a class full of girls, spiders seriously freak me out!
Treating a phobia is normally done with 1 of 2 techniques. Systematic desensitization or flooding. Systematic desensitization works by exposing the patient to increasing levels of stressful stimuli while at the same time using relaxation techniques. This is counter conditioning. Flooding simply works by exposing the patient to the stressful stimuli, and taking away the option of avoiding the stimuli. These techniques can be gradual and take a certain amount of time. I'm assuming the length of the treatment depends on the level of stress the patient feels when exposed to the stimuli. However the video I found shows a therapist who claims to be able to treat a phobia in as little as 3 hours. I found this very interesting and thought you might too. This is the first of a 3 part video. I am only posting the first in order to save room on the blog but if you are interested the other parts can be found on youtube.
WARNING!!! This video has a snake in it, if you happen to have a fear of snakes you may not want to watch it. I know I wouldn't want to watch a video of a giant spider...
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