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Results for “Desensitization, Psychologic”

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PubMed1987

Reduction of fear and anxiety in adult fearful patients.

Dental fear is most often of multifactorial origin and is most successfully treated by behavioural therapies. The need for specialized treatments is related to the severity of the fear reaction and its consequences. For the majority of anxious patients simple treatment techniques readily available and applicable in general practice should be used. These procedures aim to restructure the patient's anticipation and evaluation of the dental situation. However, the establishment of specialized research and treatment centres has resulted in improved understanding and knowledge of the severely phobic patients with long-standing avoidance symptoms. These individuals suffer from more disseminated effects of dental fear and benefit most from broadly based therapies that use both cognitive-behavioural and psychophysiological components. There may also be indications for the use of pharmacological therapies. The immediate posttherapy successful outcome rates are at levels of 70 to 80 per cent for broadly based therapies or combinations of treatment modalities. In spite of an obvious shortage of follow-up investigations, Swedish studies on severely phobic and avoiding groups have revealed that similar outcome figures may be valid over longer periods of time. The Swedish studies also indicate beneficial side-effects on the patients' general well-being and psychosocial situation.

Anesthesia, Dental↗
PubMed2004

Heart period and variability findings in preschool children with posttraumatic stress symptoms.

BACKGROUND: Traumatic experiences for young children might result in profound neurodevelopmental changes, compared with adults. Our aim was to examine autonomic control of heart rate in traumatized young children. METHODS: Sixty-two children who had suffered traumas and 62 nontraumatized control children, aged 20 months to 6 years, were assessed for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, interbeat interval, respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), family rehearsal of the trauma, and parent-child relationship quality. RESULTS: Traumatized children with PTSD and traumatized children without PTSD both had decreased heart period in response to a trauma stimulus relative to the nontraumatized group (both p < .0167). there was no main effect for RSA change scores, however, there was a significant interaction effect between parental positive discipline with PTSD symptoms and RSA. The most sympathetic children had decreased RSA during the trauma stimulus when they had caregivers with less positive discipline during a clean-up nd family rehearsal with PTSD symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: These findings underscore that psychopathology in young children ought to be assessed in the context of psychophysiology and parent-child relationship to optimally understand the mechanisms of maladaptation during this complex developmental period.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1990

The effects of marital status and partner support on rape trauma.

Psychological functioning within the first four weeks after rape was compared for married and single victims. Marital status did not significantly affect psychological symptoms following the assault. For married women, lack of support by the partner--particularly when it was unexpected--was significantly related to poor psychological functioning after the rape.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1998

The role of symptom induction in the treatment of panic and anxiety. Identifiable domains, conditional properties, and treatment targets.

Although the importance of affectively charged material in the treatment of panic and anxiety has been emphasized and implicitly viewed as essential for effective therapeutic change, a general framework for organizing, understanding, implementing, and evaluating symptom induction techniques has yet to be offered. This article offers a framework for organizing symptoms induction techniques, categorizing treatment targets, and, accordingly, assessing therapeutic change in the treatment of panic and anxiety. Symptom induction techniques are examined in three exposure domains: physiological, cognitive, and situational/circumstantial; treatment targets fall into five categories: (a) poor symptom tolerance and resultant hypersensitivity and hypervigilance, (b) avoidance of internal and external triggers, (c) the emergence of specific catastrophic thoughts and related misinterpretations, (d) diminished adaptive coping skills, and (e) a reduction in general self-efficacy. Additionally, a distinction is proposed between conditional and unconditional properties of symptom induction, with an emphasis on the potential deleterious role conditional properties play during the course of treatment.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1978

[Experimental study concerning the psychological preparation to parturition (author's transl)].

The following study reports an application to primae gravidae of two different psychological treatments aiming at reducing the fear of childbearing and facilitating the delivery. The treatments under comparison were systematic desensitization and modification of self instruction, a more cognitive approach. The effects of the two treatments proved to be identical; nevertheless there were significant differences between the results of the women who underwent treatment and those of the control group. Moreover, in our study a certain number of socioeconomic factors turned out to be correlated with the treatment effects.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

The psychological treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The psychological treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) with exposure and response prevention (ERP) methods is one of the great success stories within the field of mental health. Within the span of about 20 years, the prognosis for individuals with OCD has changed from poor to very good as a result of the development of ERP. This success not with-standing, the procedures are far from perfect because a substantial minority of patients still either refuse treatment, drop out prematurely, or fail to benefit. I begin this article with a review of the development of ERP from early animal research on avoidance learning conducted during the 1950s. Next, I discuss the mechanisms of ERP. The bulk of the article reviews the treatment-outcome literature on ERP for OCD and includes comparisons with cognitive therapy--the "new kid on the block" with respect to psychological treatments for OCD.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy↗
PubMed1990

Situational exposure treatment versus panic control treatment for agoraphobia. A case study.

Situational in vivo exposure has been widely used in the treatment of agoraphobia. However, only a low to moderate proportion of individuals treated with this approach have shown a high level of therapeutic gain. The recent recognition of panic as central to the development and maintenance of a great many cases of agoraphobic avoidance suggests that treatments focused directly on panic may contribute to a more comprehensive approach to agoraphobia. The present single case demonstrates that whereas two modes of situational exposure produced only limited improvement an approach focused directly on panic had greater effectiveness. The specific effects of the treatment components within the panic control package are analyzed in detail.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Virtual reality exposure therapy in the treatment of fear of flying: a case report.

The efficacy of virtual reality (VR) exposure therapy was examined for the fear of flying. Virtual reality exposure involved six sessions of graded exposure to flying in a virtual airplane. The specific contribution of anxiety management techniques (AMT) and the VR exposure was examined in a single case design. The subject was a 42-year-old female with a debilitating fear and avoidance of flying. All self-report measures of the fear and avoidance of flying decreased following AMT and decreased still further following VR exposure. A planned post-treatment flight was completed with anxiety measures indicating comfortable flight. The implications of this new medium for exposure therapy are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1996

Cognitive therapy of dissociative symptoms associated with trauma.

The presentation of dissociative symptoms is not uncommon in clinical settings, particularly when the client has suffered trauma. The phenomenon of dissociation ranges from benign incidents, such as daydreaming, to potentially life-threatening experiences when it precipitates self-harm. Its presentation may be subtle, belying the distress which it can provoke. Cognitive therapists are well equipped to help clients formulate a working conceptualization of the dissociative episode and to develop a range of coping skills to manage and overcome the experience. This paper discusses practical ways in which the cognitive therapist can use standard and schema-focused cognitive therapy to help clients to better deal with the distressing aspects of dissociation.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2004

[What is the specific importance of therapeutic factors in the psychological treatment of social phobia?].

This article describes the psychological interventions developed or adapted specifically for the treatment of social phobia. Two main strategies have been identified : anxiety reduction and improvement of social functioning. Exposure and cognitive restructuring are the main procedures for anxiety reduction. For the improvement of social functioning, social skills training is the principal procedure. The outcomes on a short and long term basis are analyzed and compared to psychopharmacology. Tasks (homework) to be performed in real-life situations between sessions are considered as an essential element of all interventions. However, these tasks are guided by the different theoretical principles inherent to each approach.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Managing the anxious and phobic dental patient.

This article discusses dental anxiety and phobia. The author presents background information, including incidence and etiology. A discussion of evaluative techniques for assessing anxiety levels follows. Examination and treatment planning are considered in relation to this patient's special needs. The article stresses behavioral treatment modalities that eliminate the debilitating phobia. In closing, the author presents practical information regarding prevention of dental phobia and the merits of incorporating this type of patient into a dental practice.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

"Change the mind and you change the brain": effects of cognitive-behavioral therapy on the neural correlates of spider phobia.

Questions pertaining to the neurobiological effects of psychotherapy are now considered among the most topical in psychiatry. With respect to this issue, positron emission tomography (PET) findings indicate that cognitive and behavioral modifications, occurring in a psychotherapeutic context, can lead to regional brain metabolic changes in patients with major depression or obsessive-compulsive disorder. The goal of the present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, which constitutes the first neuroimaging investigation of the effects of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) using an emotional activation paradigm, was to probe the effects of CBT on the neural correlates of spider phobia. In order to do so, fMRI was used in subjects suffering from spider phobia (n = 12) to measure, before and after effective CBT, regional brain activity during the viewing of film excerpts depicting spiders. Normal control subjects were also scanned (once) while they were exposed to the same film excerpts. Results showed that, in phobic subjects before CBT, the transient state of fear triggered, during the viewing of the phobogenic stimuli, was correlated with significant activation of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (Brodmann area-BA 10), the parahippocampal gyrus, and the visual associative cortical areas, bilaterally. For normal control subjects (n = 13), only the left middle occipital gyrus and the right inferior temporal gyrus were significantly activated. In phobic subjects before CBT, the activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (BA 10) may reflect the use of metacognitive strategies aimed at self-regulating the fear triggered by the spider film excerpts, whereas the parahippocampal activation might be related to an automatic reactivation of the contextual fear memory that led to the development of avoidance behavior and the maintenance of spider phobia. After successful completion of CBT, no significant activation was found in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (BA 10) or the parahippocampal gyrus. These findings suggest that a psychotherapeutic approach, such as CBT, has the potential to modify the dysfunctional neural circuitry associated with anxiety disorders. They further indicate that the changes made at the mind level, within a psychotherapeutic context, are able to functionally "rewire" the brain.

Adaptation, Psychological↗