Systematic Desensitization
Systematic
desensitization translates quite literally – you develop a system to gradually
desensitize yourself to a feared situation. The best written resource I've found
is Chapter 6 in Thoughts & Feelings: The Art of Cognitive Stress
Intervention,
by McKay, Davis, & Fanning (New Harbinger Publications).
"With Systematic Desensitization," the authors write, "you learn to relax while
imagining scenes that are progressively more anxiety provoking." They provide a
"Fear
Inventory" and detailed instructions on how to develop a hierarchy of threatening
scenes.
In
The Anxiety &
Phobia Workbook (also published by New Harbinger), Dr. Edmund J. Bourne
outlines a hierarchy for a common phobia: giving presentations at
work. Visualize:
-
Preparing a talk you don't give.
-
Preparing a talk and delivering
it to a friend; when comfortable with that, visualize
delivering it to 3 friends.
-
Giving a brief presentation to
3-4 people at work you know well; when comfortable with
that, visualize a longer presentation to them.
-
Giving a brief presentation to
10-15 acquaintances; when comfortable, a longer
presentation to them.
-
Giving a brief presentation to
3-4 strangers; when comfortable with that, visualizing
giving them a longer presentation.
-
Giving a brief presentation to
10-15 strangers.
-
Giving a brief presentation to 50
strangers.
Whatever the situation, visualization
works best if you first learn a relaxation
technique and visualize the scenes while practicing
relaxation, moving up the hierarchy only when you feel
comfortable.
-
Visualize a scene as if you're
actually there – emotions, colors, sounds, tastes,
temperature, smells, other people/objects. First create
a peaceful scene where you feel completely safe. As you
move up the hierarchy, if you experience more than
moderate anxiety after 30 seconds to a minute, go back
to your peaceful scene for a few minutes until you feel
relaxed enough to try again.
-
The best way to gauge your change
from anxiety to comfort is to create a 10-point scale,
where level 2 or 3 is mild to moderate anxiety and 10 is
blow-your-socks-off terror. When you feel low or no
anxiety visualizing the least anxiety-provoking scene,
move to scene #2 and repeat the process. You'll
gradually develop comfort with the scene at the top of
your hierarchy (#7 in the example above). Also, you can
build up to 30 minutes of visualization/relaxation.
Eventually, you'll find you can master 2-3 scenes in 30
minutes.
One of my most
interesting consultations on this topic occurred almost as an aside. I reviewed
personality styles with a client's team members before a team session,
and one of them ("Ned") said "I really identify with the
driving force of
fear.
My anxiety is not so bad at work, but I've developed a real phobia of snakes.
I like to ride my motorcycle on country roads, but I haven't been able to do that for a
couple of years."
"Well," I replied, "snakes can act as a
metaphor for all the 'snakes' you have to deal with on the job. Let's work on
it." I asked him to describe his worst possible imagined scene with snakes and the
least scary scene. We then created seven or eight scenes between those two associated with
increasing levels of anxiety. After we completed his hierarchy, I taught him deep
relaxation and visualization techniques so he could mentally rehearse, moving up to the
next most difficult step only when he felt relaxed at the step he'd just practiced.
Apparently those few minutes
motivated Ned to continue on his own. I
didn't see him again until six months after the team session. As I was heading
toward his boss' office, Ned stopped me
in the hall and said with a grin, "I'm so glad to see you. I wanted to tell
you my fear of snakes is gone!"
