Flooding Therapy

One kind of exposure treatment used by practitioners to help clients face their anxiety problems is this therapy. The patient is exposed to the thing that frightens them the most during exposure therapy of any kind. Pictures of snakes might be shown to someone who is afraid of snakes.
One psychotherapy procedure in which professionals subject patients to extreme terror in real time is flooding or implosion treatment. Additionally, this therapy utilizes visual aids, props, and occasionally virtual reality. If you are undergoing this therapy, you need to be aware that it is your responsibility to use relaxation strategies. This is because your therapist won't take any action to allay your anxieties.

History

"This kind of therapy was first discovered by psychotherapist Thomas Sampfl in 1967. He would regularly expose his patients to terror for six to nine hours until the fear subsided. His method drew inspiration from traditional conditioning of the time as well as exposure therapy. Ivan Pavlov defined classical conditioning as the process of matching one thing with an unrelated "cue" in the early 1900s. For instance, Pavlov trained his dog to associate the sound of a bell with mealtime. By repeatedly exposing a person to their fear, the flooding technique aims to achieve a comparable form of conditioning (Lyons, 2020).

Flooding has a long history of causing strife within the therapeutic community. According to one viewpoint, quick exposure lessens fear. In two studies, Emmelkamp (1974) and de Silva & Rachman (1974), it was established that flooding therapy lessens terror. Emmelkamp discovered that allowing agoraphobic patients to leave the fearful environment was an effective way to lessen fear (1974). De Silva and Rachman (1974), who likewise concentrated on brief exposures, discovered notable gains following therapy. However, just a few patients were included in both investigations to test this strategy, and the term "brief" was never precisely defined (Emmelkamp, 1974; de Silva & Rachman, 1974; Marshall, 1985).

Focus theme / core-concept

"Flooding therapy," sometimes referred to as "direct exposure therapy" or "prolonged exposure therapy," is a therapeutic approach used to treat anxiety disorders, PTSD, and phobias. In order to gradually lessen anxiety, it entails exposing the person to the feared stimulus in a secure and controlled atmosphere.

Benefits

Acclimating to surroundings: Certain objects' sounds and appearances may make some persons feel threatened. As a result, when these individuals are gradually exposed to the stimuli, they become accustomed to the environment.

Having control over emotional outbursts: Anxiety attacks typically occur when a person feels helpless. Your physical responses will also change in a proportional way as a result.

Overcoming phobia: Flooding therapy teaches your mind to recognize and respond to frightening events more calmly.

Changing behavior: Flooding behavior therapy is seen to help those with obsessive behaviors and poor social skills. This largely occurs as a result of how your brain has been trained to function in order to prevent any scary episodes.

Controlling anxiety: As you are exposed to stimuli in therapy sessions on a regular basis, your sensitivity decreases and you learn how to maintain your composure.

Goals

1. Fear minimization- The goal of the therapy is to desensitize the patient to the feared stimuli by exposing them to it in a safe and controlled setting. This will eventually reduce their anxiety and fear.

2. extinction of learned behaviors- In therapy, the feared stimuli is repeatedly exposed without causing harm, which helps the patient unlearn their conditioned fear reaction and replace it with a more realistic and adaptive understanding.

3. Adaptation- The process of repeatedly and continuously being exposed to a feared stimuli and growing acclimated to it is known as habituation.

4. Emotional Regulation: People learn to tolerate and control the accompanying anxiety and distress by facing their fears head-on. They can gain the ability to control their emotions in other difficult circumstances by going through this process.

5. Generalization: The intention is for the person to apply the newfound confidence and decreased anxiety to actual situations, enabling them to face previously intimidating circumstances with more assurance and adaptability.

Techniques

Graded exposure: You take small steps up the ladder to expose yourself to the source of your anxiety. To overcome your phobia of needles, for example, you can practice holding a covered needle in your hand, gazing at an image of a needle, and so on until you can finally administer an injection, which is your greatest dread.

Systematic desensitization: To help you unwind and become at ease with every stage of this procedure, your therapist may use systematic desensitization techniques. Progressive muscle relaxation, guided imagery, deep breathing, and meditation are a few examples of these techniques.

Flooding: You are suddenly exposed to the top rung of the ladder. If you find it difficult to carry out your daily activities due to your fear, therapists may recommend flooding. Although using this method will help you get over your anxiety more quickly, flooding can be a distressing event. This approach might be discussed by a therapist only if your anxiety has substantially subsided.