What Is Systematic Desensitization Therapy?

Some people have an issue with being afraid or fearful of certain objects, animals, places, or things. In some cases, this doesn’t present an issue to a person throughout their life, but in others, it may change their routines in a way that is inconvenient or affects their home life. Addressing these fears or phobias plays into systematic desensitization therapy. Here is a look at this concept. 

What Is Systematic Desensitization? 

Systematic desensitization refers to addressing a certain fear by dealing with it or being exposed to that fear until a person is no longer scared. Instead, they are taught how to relax, since relaxing will prevent someone from being afraid. Fears can cause people to do things that they wouldn’t normally do, so they often need to be addressed with professional help. Systematic desensitization was developed in the 1950s by Joseph Wolpe to take a look at fears and help people work through them. 

How Does It Work? 

 There are generally 3 steps to this process. 

• Relaxing techniques are taught. You are first taught how to relax. This is so you are able to relax during the treatment process. When you go through this type of therapy, high levels of stress are expected, so relaxation techniques are taught to assist with lessening stress as you work towards your therapy goal. 

• The patient is asked to write a list of what they fear. When you reach out for support to rid yourself of a phobia, you probably know what you want the ultimate outcome to be. This is the reason why your therapist will probably ask you to make a list of what you are scared to do. The list will start with the least stressful things associated with your fear and work towards the most stressful. For instance, if you are scared of spiders, the first thing on the list may be to think about a spider crawling on you, where the final item on the list might call for you to touch a spider. Your psychiatrist will work with you on finalizing this list and you can discuss all your options with them as well. 

• They are asked to work through the list until complete. Once the list is complete, you must work your way through the items on it. Again, this is designed to be stressful, but as you work through the items on the list and institute the relaxation techniques, you will find that you are hopefully able to move past your fears. When one item on the list no longer causes you to be stressed or fearful, the next item on the list should be explored. You will be helped through the whole process, however, and advice can be requested along the way. If you complete your list and work through the items on it, you will be well on your way to overcoming your fear, and you may be better able to relax when you are feeling anxious as well. 

For more information on this type of therapy, you can check out another article here.

Overview

When it comes to finding help for overcoming fears or phobias, there is professional help out there. You can take advantage of traditional therapy services or check out online therapy, both of which may help you meet your goals and work on overcoming fear and anxiety. Be sure to look into therapy if you feel like you need it. A good way to know that it may be time to reach out for support is when you find yourself changing your schedule to avoid certain situations or things.

(Devdiscourse's journalists were not involved in the production of this article. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Devdiscourse and Devdiscourse does not claim any responsibility for the same.)