Desensitization (psychology)

Desensitization (psychology)
Intervention
MeSH	D003887

In psychology, desensitization (also called inurement) is a process for mitigating the harmful effects of phobias or other disorders. It also occurs when an emotional response is repeatedly evoked in situations in which the action tendency that is associated with the emotion proves irrelevant or unnecessary. Agoraphobics, who fear open spaces and social gatherings outside their own home, may be gradually led to increase their interaction with the outside world by putting them in situations that are uncomfortable but not panic-provoking for them. Mastering their anxiety in very small doses can allow them to take greater steps to self-reliance. Desensitization can be an alternative or a supplement to anxiety-reducing medication.

Steps to desensitization

This first thing the person has to do in order to get over their fear is to learn how to relax their mind. After being able to do this, there are steps one should complete in order to desensitize oneself to that phobia.

In this example the person has a fear of spiders:

1. Think of a spider
2. Look at a silly drawing of a spider
3. Look at a drawing of a spider
4. Look at a photo of a spider
5. Look at an empty spider web
6. Touch an empty spider web
7. Look at a real spider in a box
8. Hold the box with the spider
9. Look at a real spider, from across the room
10. Look at a real spider, from halfway across the room
11. Look at a real spider up close
12. Let a spider crawl on something you are holding, until you are able to have it crawl on you

In animals

Horses have a natural fear of unpredictable movement. Pictured a horse being desensitized to accept the fluttering skirt of a lady's riding habit.

Main article: Sacking out

Animals can also be desensitized to their rational or irrational fears. A race horse who fears the starting gate can be desensitized to the fearful elements (the creak of the gate, the starting bell, the enclosed space) one at a time, in small doses or at a distance. Clay et al. (2009) conducted an experiment whereby he allocated rhesus macaques to either a desensitization group or a control group, finding that those in the desensitization group showed a significant reduction in both the rate and duration of fearful behavior. This supports the use of PRT training. Desensitization is commonly used with simple phobias like insect phobia.

Desensitization

Desensitization is a psychological process that has often been involved in explaining viewers' emotional reactions to media violence. Research on emotional reactions to violent messages has been concerned with the possibility that continued exposure to violence in the mass media will result in desensitization, that is, that exposure to media violence will undermine feelings of concern, empathy, or sympathy that viewers might have toward victims of actual violence. In an experiment to determine the effects on violent video games causing physiological desensitization to real-life violence, particiants played either a violent or non-violent video game for 20 minutes. After that, they watched a 10 minute video containing real-life violence while their heart rate and galvanic skin responses were being monitored. The participants who played violent video games previously to watching the video showed lower heart rate and galvanic skin response readings compared to those who had not played violent video games displaying a physiological desensitization to violence

To understand the effects of repeated exposure to violence, researchers have suggested that viewers become comfortable with violence that is initially anxiety provoking, much as they would if they were undergoing exposure therapy.

See also

• Systematic desensitization
• Sensitization
• Flooding (psychology)
• Extinction (psychology)
• Habituation
• Conditioning