Superiority of flooding (implosion) to desensitisation for reducing pathological fear
Behaviour Research and TherapyPublished 1 February 1971
J.C. Boulougouris, ISSAC MARKS, Pedro Marset
Citations109
SJR quartileQ1
SJR score2.01
SNIP1.64
Generate an AI Snapshot to get a quick, structured summary of this paper.
Study Snapshot
ObjectiveStudy objective
MethodsResearch methodology
PopulationPopulation studied
Sample sizeSample sizes
OutcomesStudy outcomes here
ResultsStudy results comes here
LimitationsResearch study limitations comes here
A concise AI-generated summary of the paper will appear here once you click Generate AI Snapshot.
TL;DR
Flooding is a promising technique for the reduction of fear in anxious phobic patients and the essential therapeutic components of flooding still have to be determined before it can be used routinely.
Abstract
Flooding was compared to desensitisation as a fear-reducer in 16 phobic patients who were treated in a crossover design with 6 sessions of each procedure. Flooding was significantly superior to desensitisation on clinical and physiological measures and improvement has been maintained over twelve months followup. Flooding is a promising technique for the reduction of fear in anxious phobic patients. The essential therapeutic components of flooding still have to be determined before it can be used routinely.
Keywords
PsychologyMedicine
The British Journal of PsychiatrySevere Agoraphobia: A Controlled Prospective Trial of Behaviour Therapy
231 Citations1966Michael Gelder, I. M. Marks
Behaviour therapy can produce only limited changes in severe agoraphobia, although sometimes these can be worthwhile, and may be a useful additional technique which can form part of general psychiatric management but not replace conventional methods.
The British Journal of PsychiatryDesensitization and Psychotherapy in the Treatment of Phobic States: A Controlled Inquiry
216 Citations1967Michael Gelder, I. M. Marks +2 more
Since few investigations have included adequate control groups, results such as those of Wolpe (1961) cannot indicate whether behaviour therapy is an advance on existing forms of treatment.
Behaviour Research and TherapyStudies in desensitization—II: Flooding
149 Citations1966S. Rachman
The results obtained with S's who received desentization under relaxation were seen to be superior to those of the Flooding and Control groups and it was found that they did not differ from No-Treatment Control S's.
Psychological ReportsRapid Extinction of an Avoidance Response following a Period of Response Prevention in the Avoidance Apparatus
125 Citations1966Morrie Baum
The results showed that Group III (response-prevention) Ss extinguished significantly sooner, confirming previous findings.
Journal of Psychosomatic ResearchPalmar skin conductance measures as predictors of response to desensitization
92 Citations1967M Lader, Michael Gelder +1 more
Behaviour Research and TherapyImplosive, eclectic verbal and bibliotherapy in the treatment of fears of snakes
83 Citations1968Robert A. Hogan, John H. Kirchner
There were significant differences between Ss who had implosive therapy and those who had bibliotherapy on the post test, and no significant differences were found between the implosives and eclectic verbal Ss on this post test.
The British Journal of PsychiatryHypnosis and Desensitization for Phobias: A Controlled Prospective Trial
75 Citations1968I. M. Marks, Michael Gelder +1 more
Several components of treatment are present in both desensitization and hypnosis, whose effects cannot be ascribed solely to relaxation and suggestion, but the relative importance of each component probably varies in different patients, partly, perhaps, because of their different levels of general anxiety.
BMJImplosion (Flooding)—a New Treatment for Phobias
64 Citations1969J.C. Boulougouris, ISSAC MARKS
A new technique is described for the treatment of phobic patients which may be more effective than other available methods to date and three out of four patients treated by implosion (flooding) became almost symptom-free after a mean of 14 sessions and remained so over six-and-a-half months' follow-up.
Behaviour Research and TherapyA study of the comparative effectiveness of systematic desensitization and implosive therapy
52 Citations1969Richard W. Willis, John A. Edwards
Systematic desensitization treatment was significantly more effective than implosive therapy in reducing avoidant behavior associated with mice and evidence of symptom substitution was absent for a period of seven to eight weeks following treatment.
Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental PsychiatryThe comparative effectiveness of systematic desensitization and implosive therapy in the treatment of snake phobia
51 Citations1971Wallace L. Mealiea, M. Mike Nawas
Behaviour Research and TherapyAn experimental investigation of the implosion technique
44 Citations1970Ray Hodgson, S. Rachman
An attempt was made to reduce emotional reactivity, in snake-phobic girls, by using horrific images which were unrelated to the phobia, which found that the Group 2 condition produced desensitization and the Group 3 condition produced sensitization.
Behaviour Research and TherapyThe implosive technique
33 Citations1968Robert A. Hogan
A brief history of the implosion technique is followed by an illustrative case-history and a detailed description of the method is provided.
Behaviour Research and TherapyEfficacy of response prevention (flooding) in facilitating the extinction of an avoidance response in rats: The effect of overtraining the response
24 Citations1968Morrie Baum