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Health Differences Across the Lifespan 2 Study Guide deterrent for drinking for people who are unable to quit by other means. Flooding: Flooding was invented by psychologist Thomas Stampfl. Flooding is an effective form of treatment for phobias amongst other psychopathologies. It works on the behaviorist principles of classical conditioning. In this technique, the person is rapidly and intensely exposed to the fear- provoking situation or object and prevented from making the usual avoidance or escape response. This is generally used with phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder, and obsessive compulsive disorder. Procedure: The client is prevented from the conditioned avoidance of the behavior by not being allowed to escape the fear-inducing situation. No relaxation therapy is used and the patient experiences fear. The fear gradually subsides after some time. The success of the procedure depends on having the patients remain in the fear-generating situation until they are calm and feel a sense of mastery. Advantages of aversion therapy: • Short duration of therapy (usually 6-8 weeks) • Easy to train the patients • Cost effective Widely used in mental health setting for: • Phobias • Anxiety disorder • Obsessive compulsive disorder • Alcohol and drug abuse • Physical disabilities • Chronic pain • Rehabilitation centers uses a variety of nonpharmacological techniques to counsel patients, families, or groups. The primary goal is to change or modify the undesired behavior. There is often a focus on the patient’s past as a contributing factor to present behaviors and ways of coping. Psychotherapy focuses on the unconscious and how it influences human behavior. It is believed that a person is driven by aggressive and sexual impulses. It focuses mainly on the first six years of human life and how the events of this time period determine later personality. Repressed conflicts from childhood lead to personality problems later in life. Anxiety is a direct result of the repression of conflicts. Psychotherapists believe that the unconscious motives, along with unresolved conflicts, lead to maladapted behavior. 1.5 Psychotherapy and Freud Psychotherapy

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