Your Dislike of Spiders Has Intensified Recently, and Now You

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The Answer is The answer should include the following information: (1) Exposure therapy is a behavior therapy that involves confronting an emotion-arousing stimulus directly and repeatedly, ultimately leading to a decrease in the emotional response. Before beginning, clients are given relaxation training. They also construct a fear hierarchy. In this case, a picture of a spider might be low on the fear hierarchy, a spider in a closed container might be in the middle, and a spider crawling on the body might be at the top of the fear hierarchy; (2) The stimulus at the bottom of the fear hierarchy is presented and the clients are told to relax. If needed, additional relaxation training is provided. When clients are comfortable in the presence of that stimulus, the next item on the fear hierarchy is encountered. Again, relaxation exercises are provided. In this way, clients will progress through the fear hierarchy, ultimately exhibiting relaxation even when harmless (yet large and hairy) spiders are crawling over them; (3) Imaginary exposure therapy would not involve live spiders. The fear hierarchy would consist of imagined interactions with spiders. Clients would be given relaxation exercises as they imagine being covered in spiders. In vivo, or live, exposure would utilize real spiders and is generally more effective than imaginary exposure; (4) Cognitive strategies might also be employed to increase the effectiveness of the treatment. If so, the therapy would be classified as cognitive behavioral. One cognitive strategy might be to challenge the distorted beliefs about spiders. The therapist might ask, "Why are you afraid of spiders?" Clients might answer that they are poisonous. The therapist might then respond that many spiders are not poisonous and that the probability of encountering poisonous ones while engaging in day-to-day activities is low. By challenging this pattern of distorted thinking, cognitive restructuring as to the meaning of spiders will lead to more rational thought and behavior; (5) A family doctor or psychiatrist might prescribe a benzodiazepine drug to be taken in the event of an emergency. For example, if a client wakes up one morning to find a spider on his bed, and this begins to trigger a panic attack, the benzodiazepine drug can reduce these symptoms.

Your Dislike of Spiders Has Intensified Recently, and Now You

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