Exposure Therapy Treatment

Panic serves a purpose as the body’s physiologicalmechanisms and therapeutic confrontation of the fear,
system of self-protection during a threatening, stressfula patient’s mind is retrained to respond to a
or dangerous situation. For some people this naturalparticular trigger with relaxation versus panic induced
alarm system becomes unbalanced through mentalby the body’s natural “fight or flight”
disorders such as post-traumatic stress (PTSD),response.
obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), or a generalExposure therapy is carefully administered through one
phobia. In those cases, the patient’s life mayof two primary methods to avoid re-traumatization of
become significantly restricted by their fears and boththe patient. The first method is known as
quality of life and ability to maintain relationships can be“flooding.” Flooding is a confrontation of trauma
heavily affected.memories or reminders all at once. Desensitization, the
Exposure therapy, an integral part of cognitivesecond method, is one in which relaxation techniques,
behavioral therapy, is a treatment technique that isimagery and other methods provide a more gradual
utilized to reduce fear and anxiety responses resultingconfrontation of life stressors through dissection of the
from phobias or anxiety disorders. Exposure therapy istrauma. As each patient is different in both stressors
effective in preventing the progression of acute stressand coping ability, the therapist will assess the best
disorder to post-traumatic stress disorder according tomeans of exposure therapy to utilize in that individual
the June 2008 Archives of General Psychiatry.patient’s recovery.
Exposure therapy is considered extremely effective inOne of the most important factors in exposure
that it aids a patient in gaining control over his or hertherapy is providing the patient with adequate tools
anxiety disorder by confronting the triggers that causeand life skills for coping with their fear. Without such
negative reactions. All exposure therapy is held withinskills, the exposure will likely heighten the fear or
a controlled and therapist-supervised environment. Theintensify the phobia and provide a setback in
basis of exposure therapy is that the management oftreatment. To force the confrontation of fears without
anxiety is the means for overcoming that anxiety, andthe patient being aware of how to cope with his or her
that phobias are the result of habitual thoughts notown response is much like forcing someone who does
entirely based in reality or developed as a result of anot know how to swim into deep water. When
trauma.patients have first learned how to cope with anxiety
Such habitual thoughts have either developedthrough relaxation techniques and positive imagery
spontaneously or over time to the point that thethey are prepared for actual confrontation of their
body’s physiological responses are maladjustedfears.
toward overreacting to certain stimuli. By using coping