PSYCH 2AP3 Lecture Notes - Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Venlafaxine
13 Feb 2014
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Symptom substitution: the idea that if we treat certain symptoms, something else will come back and replace it. Last et al(1996): 30-60% of youths treated for anxiety disorder develop another within 3-4 years. Behavioural view: the symptoms are the problem and there is no underlying psychodynamic conflict or dilemma involved. Phobic objects = conditioned stimulus for learned fear. Generalization to similar stimuli: fear of a certain snake can be broadened to anything remotely similar to it. Evolutionary/genetic predisposition: very easy to be conditioned to fear these objects. Faster gsr conditioning, slower extinction to prepared" conditioned stimuli (snakes, spiders) Quicker to associate pain or fear with snakes or spiders compared to flowers or other minimal things. Flooding (implosive therapy): forces contact with the feared object repeatedly with no dangerous events. Want to assess the level of fear for the rats. Would see how comfortable participants were having the rat close to them (varied distances)
