8.

08 Free Response Question

● For your consideration- It is not enough to answer a question by merely listing facts. You
should present a cogent argument based on your critical analysis of the question posed, using
appropriate psychological terminology.

Directions:
1. Review the rubric on the last page of the FLVS lesson to see how your assignment will be graded.
2. Set a timer for 25 minutes. Handwrite a draft. Do not use notes.
3. Take out your notes and check over your answers. Revise any mistakes.
a. You should have SEVEN distinct paragraphs with a space between each, one paragraph for
each task.
b. If identifying a key term, that term should be underlined the first time you use it.
4. Type your final draft. Copy and paste only your typed answer to the comments of the 8.08 assignment
in your assessments list. Feel free to include a picture of your handwritten draft as an uploaded file.

Prompt:
Bennett has been living with a debilitating phobia of crowds and is seeking treatment. When he was a young
child, he was separated from his family in a crowd and not reunited for several hours. Now he is a teenager,
and he and his family have been researching various treatment options and are making an appointment with a
therapist this week.

Part A: Consider Bennett's developmental stage as you answer. Relate each of these terms to the success of
Bennett's therapy:
● Resilience
● Unconditional positive regard
● Systematic desensitization
● Hierarchy of anxiety-triggering experiences
● Therapeutic alliance

Part B: Relate each of the terms to how they could limit the success of Bennett's therapy:
● Major depressive disorder
● Cultural barriers

Resilience is someone’s ability to cope with stress and to recover from adversity. A person’s resilience level
can help in determining how they will recover from the stress of a traumatic experience. Because Bennett is
still experiencing symptoms of a phobia long after the traumatic event, it is likely that his level of resilience is
not very high. In addition, it will provide insight into how long Bennett will be attending therapy to eliminate his
phobia of crowds.

Unconditional positive regard is a positive regard given to patients with no strings or conditions attached. This
is a common technique that humanistic therapists use with their clients. If Bennett’s therapist follows a
humanistic psychology, he will likely experience the therapist’s UPR to make him feel more comfortable and to
help him understand the good within himself.
Systematic desensitization is a method where a patient is taught how to relax themselves while being faced
with their fears. This is most used in behavioral therapy to treat phobias and fears. It is possible that Bennett’s
therapist may use behavioral techniques to help him overcome his phobia of crowds. This means the therapist
will teach him how to relax when he experiences fear in a less intense stimulus, like simply seeing a picture of
a large crowd rather than actually being surrounded by the people.

A hierarchy of anxiety-triggering experiences is a list that a patient creates in conjunction with their therapist of
situations that would cause anxiety in relation to their phobia. This list is used to assist the therapist in
systematic desensitization. In Bennett’s situation, a hierarchy of anxiety-triggering events could begin with
seeing a picture of a very large crowd, which causes him anxiety, but not a lot. Then, the most anxiety inducing
event would be being present in a crowded room.

Therapeutic alliance refers to the cooperative relationship between a client and their therapist. This means that
there is a bond of trust and understanding between the two. Bennett’s therapy will only be successful in
eliminating his phobia if he and his therapist form a therapeutic alliance relationship built on trust.

Major depressive disorder is a disorder in which a person experiences a depressed mood or loss of interest or
pleasure for more than two weeks. It typically occurs after being removed from drugs or a medication that was
helping the patient improve. If Bennett’s therapist uses a biomedical approach and prescribes him to
anxiety-reducing medication, he may become reliant on it, rather than simply using them to improve his phobia.
So, when he is taken off the medication, he could experience symptoms of major depressive disorder.

Cultural barriers refers to one of the possible barriers that clients and patients face when trying to form a bond.
Sometimes, the client is from a different culture than their therapist, they might not have similar value systems,
which would lead to misunderstandings. If Bennett feels that he and his therapist are from different
backgrounds and do not understand each other, he will be less likely to open up and be ready to share with
them.