Aquaphobia is a fear that can affect one’s daily life in many drastic ways anywhere from personal to social to professional life. Aquaphobia is a specific phobia of water that involves a certain level of fear that is beyond the patient’s control. Aquaphobia even classifies as a panic disorder, which is a severe anxiety disorder characterized by reoccurring panic attacks with anticipatory anxiety and significant behavioral changes (Ajinkya, 2015). People that suffer from Aquaphobia may experience it even though they understand that the water from an ocean, lake, river, pool or even bathtub poses no imminent threat. Some causes of this phobia include the fear of drowning, experiencing a horrific accident or even overprotective parents. Some symptoms …show more content…
Cognitive-Behavior Therapy (CBT) is also often paired with systematic desensitization. CBT is focused on regaining control of reactions to stress and stimuli, ultimately reducing the feeling of helplessness (Palazzolo, 2014). One specific case of Psychotherapeutic Treatment for Aquaphobia takes a closer look at the break down of how systematic desensitization would be applied. Initially, the patient would be given information on their phobia, making it seem as unthreatening as possible and by showing them that they are not alone, as this disorder is common and that there is a cognitive approach to treat their condition. You first explain to the patient step by step the therapy that is going to take place. You ask them to carefully watch themselves throughout each situation and take notice at what parts they find challenging or lead them to avoidance. It is also suggested that the patients rates her anxiety during those situations on a scale from 1-10. The duration of this therapy would be approximately 13 sessions, meeting once a week for 30-45 minutes. The first three sessions are centered around their life and story of their disability, the diagnosis and the analysis of the disorder while working out a review of each sessions and what their ultimate goal …show more content…
This disorder can involve something as simple as the fear of taking a sip of water. In a case as severe as this, hypnotherapy may be the way to go. Hypnotherapy is the use of hypnosis with conventional psychotherapy. It amplifies the effects of cognitive therapy by teaching relaxation techniques while also enhancing access to the unconscious process that can help to easily identify distorted cognitions. It also used post-hypnotic suggestions to facilitate divergent thinking/experiences (Ajinkya, 2015). One prime example of the success of this treatment is based on a 37-year old Indian media professional who has suffered from panic disorder from drinking water for the past 10 years. It all began when he was at a restaurant with friends and felt a headache coming on so he took some medicine along with a sip of water. He began choking and got the feeling that he was ‘going to die.’ From that initial episode, there were many discrete episodes that followed that included panic while drinking water. He tried taking anti-anxiety medications and attended counseling sessions but the symptoms prevailed and it eventually negatively impacted his social and professional life. From there, he saw a psychiatrist and was diagnosed with Aquaphobia and referred to hypnotherapy after medication did not work. He underwent 6 sessions of cognitive hypnotherapy. He was given reassuring positive suggestions
In this treatment, “clients are repeatedly exposed to objects or situations that produce anxiety, obsessive fears, and compulsive behaviors, but they are told to resist performing the behaviors they feel so bound to preform” (Comer, 2015). Individuals going through this treatment will often find it extremely difficult to resist the urge to preform these compulsions, or behaviors, therefor the therapist will often be the first to set this example. This treatment can be conducted in an individual, or group
Just imagine for a moment that you have a cynophobia or the fear of dogs, would this be how you would feel. Driving down the road the oil light comes on. "I must stop the car to add more oil or I will damage the car engine. This looks like a good place to pull over. I'll just stop in front of this house. The oil is in the trunk, so I'll pop the top first, then get the oil out of the trunk. OK, I have the oil, but what if there is a dog at this house. Hurry, I have to hurry. A dog might come running out and bark at me any minute. Just get the oil in the engine. I can't my hands are shaking. Don't worry, there is no dog. Just get the oil in the engine. I don't care if I spill it, just get some in the engine. Take another look around, is there a dog anywhere. OK, the oils in, now hurry get back in the car. I can't breath. I'm safely back in the car, now just take a minute and breath. When will my hands stop shaking." This is how a person with a phobia of dogs might feel. There is no dog around anywhere in sight, but the thought of a dog running at them barking is enough to cause a panic attack. In "Exploring Psychology" David G. Myers defines phobia as "an anxiety disorder marked by a persistent, irrational fear and avoidance of a specific object or situation" (432). This paper will explore the history, causes, effects, and treatment of Phobias.
The procedures leading to the acquisition and elimination of agoraphobia are based on a number of behavioural principles. The underlying principle is that of classical conditioning. Classical conditioning is a type of learning in which a stimulus acquires the capacity to evoke a response that was originally evoked by another stimulus (Weiten, 1998). Eliminating agoraphobia is basically achieving self-control through behaviour modification. Behaviour modification is systematically changing behaviour through the application of the principles of conditioning (Weiten, 1998). The specific principle used here is systematic desensitisation. The two basic responses displayed are anxiety and relaxation, which are incompatible responses. Systematic desensitisation works by reconditioning people so that the conditioned stimulus elicits relaxation instead of anxiety. This is called counterconditioning. Counterconditioning is an attempt to reverse the process of classical conditioning by associating the crucial stimulus with a new conditioned response (Weiten, 1998). This technique's effectiveness in eliminating agoraphobia is well documented.
In order to treat the fear you must treat it with relaxation while in the presence of the feared situation. The first step in Wolpe’s study was to focus on relaxing your body. He recommended a process that involves tensing and relaxing various groups of muscles until a deep state of relaxation is achieved (Wolpe,264). The second stage was to develop a list of anxiety-producing situations that are associated with the phobia. The list would descend with from the least uncomfortable situation to the most anxiety producing event you can imagine. The number of events can vary from 5 to 20 or more. The final step is to desensitize, which is the actual “unlearning” of the phobia. Wolpe told his patients that no actual contact with the fear is necessary, and that the same effectiveness can be accomplished through descriptions and visualizations(Wolpe,265). Wolpe’s participants are told to put themselves in a state of relaxation which they are taught. Then, the therapist begins reading the first situation on the hierarchy they have made up. If the patient stays relaxed through the first situation the therapist continues to the next until the state of relaxation is broken. If they feel a slight moment of anxiety they are to raise their index finger until the state of relaxation is restored. The average number
Beyond the systematic and in vivo desensitization treatments, there are other procedures that may be used to treat fears. These include flooding, where an individual is exposed to the fear producing stimulus at full intensity for a lengthy time, and modeling-which involves watching another individual perform an act when faced with the object of fear; this method is generally more effective with children (Miltenberger,
In the general population, less than five percent of people experience panic disorders, and only six percent develop agoraphobia during their lives, (MacNeil 2001). A diagnosis of panic disorder is given when panic attacks turn into a common occurrence, for no apparent reason and the person begins to change their behaviour because of the constant fear of having a panic attack. Someone suffering from agoraphobia has a fear of being somewhere where help will not be provided in case of an emergency; one third to one half of people diagnosed with panic disorders develops agoraphobia, (Hoeksema & Rector, 2011, p. 204). Research has examined two well-known ways a panic disorder with agoraphobia (PDA) can be treated: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) (alone and combined with two other medications) and Experimental Cognitive Therapy (ECT). Examining the research allows for a comparison of each treatment, along with a discussion of implications, resulting in determining which treatment is the most effective for someone who suffers from a panic disorder with agoraphobia.
Social anxiety is a prevalent and common disorder amongst society. Social anxiety disorder is expressed as a fear in public and social situations for an individual (Kashdan, Farmer, Adams, Mcknight, Ferssizidis, Nezelf 2013). A person with social anxiety fears that a social appearance, outcome, or situation will lead a to negative response to their surrounding audience (Kashdan, Farmer, Adams, Mcknight, Ferssizidis, Nezelf 2013). However there are numerous treatments for social anxiety. Cognitive behavioral therapy is one of the most efficacious treatments that a patient may receive (Hambrick, Weeks, Harb, & Heimberg, 2003. Cognitive behavioral therapy has numerous techniques that can be used on patients. The result of using cognitive behavioral therapy on patients shows that it has long-term and short-term effectiveness (Hambrick, Weeks, Harb, & Heimberg, 2003. In conclusion a patient with social anxiety disorder should have the opportunity to try cognitive behavioral therapy.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, uses a combination of cognitive and behavioral interventions such as focusing on the content of worry using verbal challenging focuses( ). The Exposure & Response Prevention (ERP) approach, uses the ‘Fear-extinction learning’ to help individuals become desensitized to their overwhelming emotions (Harley & Casey, 2013).
Moreover behavioral therapy is used to help patients break out of the cycle of avoidance, as negative reinforcement is key the maintenance of anxiety disorders. Exposure therapy involves exposing a client to an anxiety provoking stimuli enough times to cause desensitization. Usually the therapist will recommend starting off with the lowest anxiety provoking stimuli and work the patient’s way up to the most anxiety provoking stimuli until desensitization is achieved.
Then during sessions, the client is exposed to their fear using one of the strategies associated with exposure therapy stated previously. The goal is through exposure and facing the discomfort, the client will learn habituation. Habituation occurs when the client has allowed themselves to experience their fear without avoiding it thus reducing their symptoms naturally (Rodebaugh, Holaway, & Heimberg, 2004). This process is gradual and occurs over the course of several sessions. Exposure therapy also include homework for the client to complete and later discuss with a professional in
Systematic Desensitisation is a therapy based on classical condition. The aim is to use relaxation to desensitise against fear and anxiety.
The benefit of this fact is that we can change the way we think to feel and act better even if our situation does not change. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is considered among the most rapid in terms of results obtained. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is a form of psychotherapy that emphasizes the important role of thinking in how we feel and your perception of the world around. This article explains that cognitive-behavioral therapy and exposure therapy go hand and hand together and is proven to be significantly effective when treating social phobia across the board. Cognitive-behavioral therapy helps to diminish the belief that negative social events are more likely to occur than positive social events associated with social phobia. The Cognitive-behavioral therapy accounts for the relation between the predictor and the criterion treatment of social phobia. As a patient is able to change the negative cognitions into positive adaptive reasoning associated with their avoidant personality disorder, patients are able to be more objective to the exposure therapy
The ocean is the most amazing as well as the most mysterious place in the world, with hundreds of new species being discovered every year, in a place that takes about 70% of the earth's surface. This always makes people think, “What else is out there?”. Thalassophobia is the fear of the ocean, a fear that countless people in the world suffer from. There is no clear number of people who suffer from thalassophobia, but there are multiple online groups dedicated to the phobia, with one of those having about 80,000 members.
The ocean is the utmost amazing as well as the most mysterious place in the world, with hundreds of new species being discovered every year, in a place that takes about 70% of the earth's surface. This always makes people consider, “What else is out there?”. Thalassophobia is the fear of the ocean, a fear that countless people in the world suffer from. There is no clear number of people who suffer from thalassophobia, but there are multiple online groups dedicated to the phobia, with one of those having about 80,000 members.
Treatment is available and extremely helpful for those suffering with a phobia. Medications and therapy both work well in the majority of cases. In a majority of cases a portion of the therapy is dedicated to causal exposure to the phobia. The exposure is gradually increased until the individual is comfortable in the situation without experiencing an anxiety attack. Group therapy is also beneficial as the individual is exposed to other suffering through the same fears.