Question

Geraldo, a second-year college student, is so fearful of medical procedures that he has avoided routine dental checkups for over three years. He has recently decided to seek help in overcoming his fear. Compare and contrast (what are the similarities and differences) the methods that would be used by (a) a behavior therapist and (b) a psychoanalytic therapist.

Answer 1

Geraldo is most likely suffering from a phobia, which is a severe fear of a specific situation or object. Here, Gerarldo is expressing fear about the dental procedures.

In behaviour therapy, the cause of a fear is said to be cognitive distortion or wrong view of a situation, which involves falsely interpreting a situation. So, Geraldo can be given systematic desensitisation, in which Geraldo along with the therapist will make a hierarchy of fears starting from lowest to highest associated with dental checkups. After creating this list the therapist will ask him to visualise these situation and relax and take deep breaths. By doing this Geraldo will stop associating dental checkups with fear and associate with with relation and something which is non threatening.

The psychoanalytic therapist will focus more on the early experiences of the individual and his childhood. He will focus of the unconscious aspects of this fear and what is making him avoid the dental checkups. The therapist will also identify and work on the defence mechanisms, which maybe involved in avoiding the dental checks, and why it is happening. He will also identify various past experience of Geraldo with other people and doctors to know better about the cause of the problem.