Question

Identify a problem behavior of your own, or of a good friend, then select one or more behavior therapy techniques which might be applied to improve (or remove) this behavior. Be specific in showing how they would be used.

Answer 1

One of my friends has a a fear of being in social situations, interacting with others and the fear of being negatively evaluated or judged by people. This is known as social anxiety disorder. To treat him, i decide to use the technique, systematic desensitization, which is a behavioral technique. After interviewing my friend and taking his case history, i ask him to list out a hierarchy of fears starting from the least to the most fearful social situations. After this list is made, i teach him deep muscle relaxation technique and how to use it.

Now, i ask him to imagine the least fearful situation in his list, when he does this, he may experience anxiety, and then he is asked to relax using the muscle relaxation technique. This is done for all the social situations on the hierarchy, and goes on till he is relaxed in the most anxiety provoking situation. Alternatively, in vivo exposure could be used, where instead of just imagining the situation, he is exposed to each of this situation in real life, and is given relaxation subsequently. The systematic desensitization helps the client to disassociate anxiety with the situation he is afraid of by gradually associating it with relaxation.