Out of
the Box Coaching and
Breakthroughs with the Enneagram,
Mary R. Bast, Ph.D.
Copyright © 1999. All rights reserved. Revised:
October 05, 2008
Systematic Desensitization
Systematic desensitization translates pretty 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 executive phobia: giving presentations at work. He starts with "preparing a talk which you don't give," moves through several increasingly difficult levels to "giving a brief presentation to three or four people at work you know well," and finally (through several more threatening levels) to "giving a brief presentation to 50 strangers."
One of my most interesting consultations on this topic occurred almost as an aside. When I reviewed Enneagram styles with Ned before a team session with his boss, he admitted, "I really identify with the driving force of fear."
When I asked him how bad it gets, he said, "It's 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.
I didn't see Ned again until six months after the team session, when he stopped me in the hall, excitedly saying, "I'm so glad to see you. I wanted to tell you my fear of snakes is gone!"