Question 1

Systematic desensitization is based largely on the concept of _______________, which refers specifically to the process of learning a response that is incompatible with anxiety.

Accepted Answer

Systematic desensitization involves counterconditioning, where a new response that is incompatible with anxiety (such as relaxation) is conditioned to occur in the presence of the anxiety-provoking stimuli.

Question 2

Two key assumptions of the ___________ approach to therapy are that psychological disorders are learned in exactly the same way as normal behaviours are and that they can be treated by applying the basic principles of learning.

Accepted Answer

The behavioural approach to therapy is based on the idea that both adaptive and maladaptive behaviors are learned through interactions with the environment, and thus, changing these behaviors can be achieved through the application of learning principles such as conditioning.

Question 3

A client has a fear of dogs. The client is receiving therapy in which they must be in the same room with a friendly dog and not retreat. In this therapy, preventing the client from retreating at the sight of a dog is ________.

Accepted Answer

Response prevention is part of the therapeutic process in exposure therapy, where the client is prevented from performing their usual avoidance behaviors (in this case, retreating from the dog), allowing them to face their fear and learn to manage their anxiety.

Question 4

The first step in systematic desensitization is ________.

Accepted Answer

The first step in systematic desensitization involves teaching the individual voluntary muscle relaxation techniques. This is because the process relies on the person being able to relax in the presence of a stimulus that previously caused anxiety.

Question 5

A client's therapist follows Ellis's rational-emotive therapy techniques in treating their clients. The therapist embodies the ABCD model as proposed by Ellis. The B in the model stands for the ___________ that underlies the way in which the client appraises an event.

Accepted Answer

The B in Ellis's ABCD model of rational-emotive therapy stands for the belief system. This model posits that it is not the activating event (A) itself that causes emotional and behavioral consequences (C), but rather the beliefs (B) about the event that lead to these consequences.

Question 6

Virtual reality technology would most likely be used in the treatment of which of the following disorders?

Accepted Answer

Virtual reality technology is particularly useful in the treatment of phobias and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) because it can simulate environments or situations that are difficult to recreate in real life, allowing for controlled exposure therapy.

Question 7

The basic goal of aversion therapy is to ___________________ response.

Accepted Answer

Aversion therapy is a type of behavior therapy that aims to decrease an anxiety response by pairing an unpleasant stimulus with the behavior that triggers the anxiety.

Question 8

Exposure therapies operate on the assumption that _____________ is the most direct way to reduce or eliminate a learned anxiety response.

Accepted Answer

Exposure therapies are based on the principle of classical extinction, where repeated exposure to the feared object or situation without any negative outcome leads to a reduction or elimination of the anxiety response associated with it.

Question 9

A major contributor to cognitive therapy for depression is ________.

Accepted Answer

Aaron Beck is widely recognized as a pioneer in the field of cognitive therapy, particularly in relation to depression. His work emphasized the role of negative thought patterns and beliefs in the development and maintenance of depression.

Question 10

Beck's cognitive therapy has proved to be effective for the treatment of ________.

Accepted Answer

Beck's cognitive therapy is particularly effective for treating depression and anxiety by helping individuals identify and change negative thought patterns.

Question 11

___________ therapy treats anxiety symptoms by presenting a feared stimulus (such as a dog or heights) and preventing the target person from avoiding that stimulus.

Accepted Answer

Exposure therapy is a psychological treatment that helps individuals confront their fears. By facing the feared object, situation, or activity in a controlled and safe environment, individuals learn to reduce their anxiety and distress over time. This therapy is often used for treating anxiety disorders, including phobias and PTSD.

Question 12

A client is being treated for depression after a breakup with a partner. The therapist points out that the thoughts, and not the situation itself, cause the client maladaptive emotional reactions such as depression. This information suggests that the client's therapist practices _______ therapy.

Accepted Answer

The therapist's focus on the role of thoughts in causing emotional reactions aligns with the principles of Beck's cognitive therapy, which emphasizes the importance of identifying and changing distorted or maladaptive thought patterns to improve emotional well-being.

Question 13

Virtual reality involves using ________ to create realistic environments that evoke many of the same reactions that a comparable real-world environment would.

Accepted Answer

Virtual reality involves using computer technology to create realistic environments that can simulate the experience of being in different places or situations, evoking reactions similar to those one might have in the real world.

Question 14

The therapist pairs a stimulus that is attractive (but deviant or self-defeating) to the client with a noxious UCS, in an attempt to reduce an unwanted behaviour in ____________________ therapy.

Accepted Answer

This technique is known as aversion therapy, where an undesirable behavior is paired with an unpleasant stimulus in an effort to condition a negative response to the behavior.

Question 15

Treatment for phobias using a classical conditioning approach involves exposure to the _______ in the absence of the _______, while using response prevention.

Accepted Answer

In classical conditioning, the conditioned stimulus (CS) is what triggers the phobic response, and the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) is the original trigger of the response. Treatment involves exposure to the CS without the UCS to help the individual learn that the CS no longer predicts the UCS, aiming to extinguish the phobic response.

Question 16

As part of rational-emotive therapy, patients may be directed to ________.

Accepted Answer

Rational-emotive therapy, developed by Albert Ellis, focuses on identifying irrational beliefs, challenging these beliefs, and replacing them with more rational self-statements. Placing themselves in challenging situations and practicing new self-statements is a technique used in this therapy to help patients confront and change their thought patterns.

Question 17

Compared to exposure therapies, systematic desensitization typically evokes __________ anxiety in the client during treatment and usually takes ___________ time to fully treat someone.

Accepted Answer

Systematic desensitization is designed to gradually expose a client to anxiety-provoking stimuli while teaching them relaxation techniques to cope with the anxiety, thereby typically evoking less anxiety than direct exposure therapies. However, because of its gradual approach, it usually takes more time to fully treat someone compared to more direct exposure therapies.

Question 18

Part of systematic desensitization is creating a(n) ________________, in which 10 to 15 scenes are arranged in roughly equal steps from low-anxiety to high-anxiety.

Accepted Answer

A stimulus hierarchy is created in systematic desensitization, where scenes are arranged from those that provoke the least anxiety to those that provoke the most, to gradually expose the individual to the anxiety-provoking stimuli.

Question 19

From Wolpe's perspective, treatment with systematic desensitization works because anxiety is essentially a(n) _______________ emotional response.

Accepted Answer

Systematic desensitization, as conceptualized by Joseph Wolpe, is based on the principle that anxiety is a classically conditioned response. The treatment aims to replace the anxiety response with a relaxation response through gradual exposure to the anxiety-provoking stimuli while the person is in a state of relaxation.

Question 20

A client has a phobia of dogs and consults with a behaviour therapist. The therapist first teaches the client a muscle relaxation technique. Then they create a list of increasingly fearful situations involving dogs. Starting with the least feared situation, the therapist has the client imagine it and then use the client's relaxation training to eliminate any anxiety that arises. The therapist is using the general technique called ______________, and the list that they have created is an example of _____________.

Accepted Answer

The answer of A client has a phobia of dogs...

Quiz 17: Treatment of Psychological Disorders