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The aim of this therapy is to change the way you respond to objects, people or
situations that trigger feelings of fear and anxiety.
It involves gradually exposing the individual to the feared object or situation in
a controlled and relaxed environment.
Systematic desensitization therapy has three main steps:
1. Deep muscle relaxation techniques
2. Creating a fear hierarchy
3. Working up through the fear scale through exposure
In the first stage of the treatment people with anxiety and fears are taught
breathing exercises and muscle relaxation techniques. Relaxation techniques
are generally these types:
Deep breathing: It invites you to slow down your breathing and lenghten the
exhale to relax the sympathetic nervous system.
Muscle relaxation: Progressive Muscle Relaxation(PMR) teaches you to spot
tension in your muscles and relax it. By concentrating on one group at a time,
you learn to tense and relax your muscles, feeling tension melt away as you
release.
Visualization: This is an exercise that transports you to a place that feels safe
and relaxing.
In this stage you create a list where you write out all
your fears and rank them on a scale of 1 to 10.
First you list your level 10 fear(highest amount of
anxiety) than level 1 fear(least amount of anxiety).
After this you brainstorm the remaining fears and list
them in order from 2 to 9.
After listing you discuss your fears with yours
therapist and work on exposing yourself to them.
You start from least frightening to highest(level 1 to
level 10).
The process exposure can be done in three ways:
1. In vitro: The patient imagines being exposed to the object of fear in the mind’s
eye.
2. In vivo: The patient is actually exposed to the fear.
3. VRET(virtual reality exposure therapy):Virtual reality technology mimics real
life situations in a computer generated environment.