Exposure Therapy Paper

Words: 432
Pages: 2

Exposure Therapy Exposure therapy involves controlled and systematic contact with anxiety provoking stimulus. This can either be done vivo exposure (real-life contact) or in-vivo (imaginary). Exposure is effective at breaking the cycle of anxiety and avoidance behaviors that in turn causes more anxiety and avoidance. Anxious people have the tendency to overestimate the amount of danger a feared person or event actually poses and their ability to effective deal with the threat (Wenzel, 2013). During the interview Ken became emotional while sharing how his parents obesity cause him feel embarrassed and ashamed. These intensely emotional memories would appear to causing Ken’s fear of becoming overweight even though he is very thin. A plan, including input from both the therapist and Ken, could be developed exposing Ken to his fears of becoming overweight, along with cognitive restructuring of unhelpful and distorted thinking. A hierarchy of fears can be developed with Ken starting on facing minimal fears before taking on more intense fears. As Ken learns to challenge and face his fears he will be able to remove this challenge to successful therapeutic …show more content…
Affective coping skills, such as; controlled breathing, muscle relaxation, mindfulness and self-soothing, can be viewed as effective tools that Ken can use during intense affect with resulting to self-defeating behaviors (drug use or making impulsive decisions). All though these skills are only intended for short term emotional regulation, they are a good step toward coping in the moment and being able to make use of more long-term cognitive and behavioral techniques. Other more long-term cognitive and behavioral techniques will then have a greater potential to deescalate negative affect and allow Ken to engage in more healthy behaviors (Wenzel,