Psychodynamic Case Study Answers

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1. REBT describes that disturbed emotional reactions such as depression and anxiety are initiated by clients’ self-defeating belief systems, which are based on irrational ideas they’ve incorporated and invented. Adrian revealed that when a phobia is triggered he experiences panic attacks thus he believes that bad things will happen to him or his loved ones. Moreover, the death of his wife was the event that reinforced his irrational beliefs, which caused his unhealthy emotional reactions. A major goal of REBT therapy is to encourage clients to be less emotionally reactive. For instance, I would challenge Adrian’s irrational beliefs (e.g. I should wash my hands or I’ll catch a cold) by teaching him how to respond to these situations emotionally …show more content…
Behavior therapy’s aim is to eliminate maladaptive learning and providing for more effective learning. Since Adrian has several phobias and they seem to have become more severe over time, I would recommend that the most appropriate course to take will be to use systematic desensitization. Systematic desensitization is based on the principle of classical conditioning. First, he’ll imagine anxiety-arousing situations while he engages in a behavior that competes with anxiety. Then, a variation of systematic desensitization that Adrian should practice is in vivo exposure. In vivo exposure involves repeated systematic exposure to fear items such as germs, beginning from the bottom of the hierarchy. Adrian will engage in a brief, graduated series of exposures to feared situations to the point he will no longer avoid them. Gradually, he’ll become less sensitive to those anxiety-arousing situations. Although it’s time consuming, it is highly effective and efficient in reducing maladaptive anxiety and treating anxiety-related disorders such as Obsessive Compulsive Disorders (OCD). It’s preferable that Adrian starts imagining less anxiety-arousing situations then gradually expose him to in vivo anxiety inducing events (real) than to abruptly apply flooding (extended time exposed to fears) as it can be dangerous for