Systematic Desensitization

In the field of psychology, systematic desensitization is a behavioral treatment, that is used to treat anxiety causing behavior such as phobias and fears. By slowly having the mind adjust to and accept the fears, systematic desensitization works to ultimately overcome and eliminate the fear of any particular object or situation. For this procedure to be effective, a patient is first taught some relaxation techniques. These include deep breathing, and learning how to relax the mind as well as the muscles. Then, these feelings of relaxation are made to be associated with the object or situation (stimulus) that causes the fear. Slowly and steadily, the mind learns to associate the positive feeling with the negative stimulus, and overcomes the fear.

Systematic Desensitization Therapy

Systematic desensitization works on the principle that what the mind is conditioned to believe, for instance, anxiety symptoms triggered upon seeing a spider, can be reversed or unlearned. Fears and phobias are developed as a result of classical conditioning, a theory studied by a famous Russian physiologist, Ivan Pavlov.

He conducted an experiment, involving the reaction of a dog on sight of food, i.e., salivating. When a dog sees food, it automatically begins to salivate. Pavlov started introducing the sound of a bell, every time he presented food to the dog. Slowly, the dog began to associate the ringing of the bell to the presence of food. Over a period of time, by constant repetition of this act, the dog started to salivate when the bell was rung, even in the absence of food. This means, it began to associate the conditioned stimulus (the bell), to the unconditioned stimulus (food), and what initially was an unconditioned response to the unconditioned stimulus (salivating at the sight of food), became a conditioned response to a conditioned stimulus (salivating at the sound of the bell). This concept is called classical conditioning.

The theory mentioned above is true to our phobias and fears too. For example, there may be a situation where a person may have noticed the presence of a bunch of red roses, at the death of a loved one. The anxiety caused by the death of a loved one, may have then become associated to the presence of all those roses, and the mind would then begin to associate red roses with death. This could be true of any object and any situation.

As a means of psychotherapy, the systematic desensitization treatment procedure involves the process of counter-conditioning or learned behavior modification, which means learning to dissociate the anxiety symptoms from the object that causes it. This is done by exposing the object to the person who has the phobia, in a manner that causes least amount of distress, say a picture of a red rose, to a manner that causes maximum distress, say holding a bunch of red roses in the hand. This is known as the anxiety hierarchy. This process takes place over a period of time, and ultimately results in overcoming the fear. Thus, instead of avoiding the anxiety-causing object, a person learns to face it and then overcome it, with the help of systematic desensitization.

Example of Systematic Desensitization

The process of treatment through this procedure, can be explained by way of an example of systematic desensitization. For instance, if a person has associated some kind of fear to a red rose, and experiences extreme panic attacks or a nervous breakdown upon seeing or touching one, the following ways can help in overcoming this fear.

• The patient is first taught to relax, through various relaxation methods, like learning how to relax the muscles, and applying various deep breathing relaxation techniques. With these methods, a general sense of calm prevails over the mind.
• Next, the patient is asked only to think about a red rose. Of course, this will generate the feeling of anxiety, but only in a limited amount, as the object of fear is just imaginary and not real.
• Then, the patient will be presented a funny drawing, representing a person or a scene, that includes a rose. If this generates anxiety, the patient will be asked to close his eyes, relax his mind, and once relaxed, will be presented the picture again. This constant repetition of retreating, relaxing and then repeating the pattern is one of the core principles of systematic desensitization.
• Slowly, a picture of a rose will be presented in a pleasant situation. For instance, a picture of a boy giving a red rose to a girl, as a symbol of love will be shown to the patient. This will help him associate pleasant feelings to a rose.
• Now, the patient has to just see a real rose, placed in a vase, from a distance. This will be done with constant reassurance that it can possibly cause no harm.
• The patient will slowly be made to approach the red rose, and look at it from a shorter distance.
• Then, the patient will go close to the rose placed in the vase, and just be asked to touch the vase.
• This will be followed by touching the red rose.
• The patient will now hold the red rose in his hand.
• Finally, he will be able to hold an entire bouquet of red roses, without experiencing any anxiety or fear.

Systematic desensitization can be practiced by one at home, but this depends on the level of anxiety caused upon seeing the object that generates the anxiety. However, it is definitely safer to do it under the guidance of a psychotherapist, who will effectively help in controlling and then overcoming the fear. This is because if the process goes wrong, the phobia can be heightened to a newer level, instead of being eliminated. Thus, by unlearning certain behaviors, various anxiety causing fears can be overcome, by means of the process of systematic desensitization.