dental phobia
My intervention is based on "John", a 15-year-old boy who has a phobia of dentists. Other than this, he shows no other mental problems, he has had some unrelated disciplinary problems at school, and also has no fear of doctors or needles. His dental phobia has prohibited him from seeing a dentist in 6 years. He has avoided dental appointments by not turning up, whilst also undertaking strict teeth cleaning behaviours, such as religious brushing, to avoid the chance that he may need dental intervention. He has even expressed a dislike for very hard food as he may damage a tooth, requiring dental intervention. John's parents could not specify the phobia's starting point, only that it had been around ever since they could remember. He has not tried any methods to solve his phobia to date, however his parents have attended dental appointments and offer him support to get through them. These have only produced refusals to get in the car to go to appointments, and to even go inside the surgery. I conducted an interview with John on our first meeting, where I simply talked to him and asked him questions in order to get background information on his problem and gauge the severity of it. There was no specifi
After this, we then started each exposure by only briefly coming in contact with it for about a minute, and then longer for the second exposure, and so on, until John felt no anxiety with that particular situation leading us to progress to the next situation in the hierarchy. OUTCOMEThe outcomes of the therapy for John were positive. The visualisations also worked, yet the in vivo exposures we performed seemed to have a far more pronounced effect on John, as this is where I could actually notice him grow out of his anxiety. This was apparent by the way nothing I suggested was too much for John, and this led him to adhere to all therapy with determination. The DFS is also a very accurate test to administer. John also needs to seek help early if he starts to regress so that he can start to get help early enough that the phobia is easy to diminishes. We only practiced these relaxation methods for the first two sessions and then they were given to John to practise at night. When John had diminished visual anxiety for a situation I used positive social reinforcement through praise. I might even have to make an appointment immediately before him so that I can make sure he fills his appointment and feels comfortable. To increase and maintain the positive effects of therapy there are several things that John may need to do. John's parents and I both noticed changes in John throughout therapy. He agreed to this and John was informed of it for future visits. I told him that if he experienced anxiety, he was to raise his hand.
Common topics in this essay:
Spiegler Guevremont,
,
Chapman Kirby-Turner,
John John,
Malouff Schutte,
INTERVENTION Therapy,
DFS Appendix,
Mason Evans,
Phobia Workbook,
SUDS SUDS,
relaxation techniques,
spiegler guevremont 2003,
guevremont 2003,
spiegler guevremont,
dental situations,
start therapy,
10 dental,
situations john,
malouff schutte,
schutte 1995,
therapy john,
malouff schutte 1995,
dental journal vol,
10 dental situations,
average suds ratings,
|
Acceptance Essays
