Definition
An intense exposure therapy technique based on classical conditioning in which patients are taught coping skills before being introduced directly to the fear-inducing stimulus or traumatic memory. The premise is that with enough exposure to the stimulus, habituation allows for the patient’s fear response to be extinguished. This type of therapy is primarily used to treat posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anxiety disorders, especially specific phobias.
Introduction
Flooding is a technique based on classical conditioning used in behavioral therapy that teaches patients anxiety-reducing coping skills and once those skills have been mastered, integrates them into real-life situations where the patients face their fear-inducing stimulus or traumatic event. This technique has been adapted to be used for patients in a variety of settings and has branched into three main parts; imaginal exposure,...
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Martin, R., Capron, D. (2017). Flooding. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_898-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_898-1
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