flooding

flooding /flood·ing/ (flud´ing) a form of desensitization for treating phobias and anxieties by repeated exposure to highly distressing stimuli until the lack of reinforcement of the anxiety response causes its extinction. It is usually used for actual exposure to the stimuli, with implosion used for imagined exposure, but the two terms are sometimes used synonymously.

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flood·ing (fldng)

n.

A form of desensitization used in behavior therapy in which the patient imagines or is actually exposed to anxiety-producing stimuli.

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flooding

Etymology: AS, flod

1 profuse bleeding from the uterus, especially after childbirth or prolonged menses.

2 also called implosive therapy. a technique used in behavior therapy for the reduction of anxiety associated with various phobias. Exposure to a stimulus that usually provokes anxiety desensitizes a person to that stimulus, thereby reducing fear and anxiety. Compare systemic desensitization.

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flooding

a technique of training or behavior modification in which an extreme version of a feared stimulus is applied and continued until the fear response is diminished.

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flooding

Forced exposure, implosion Psychiatry A behavior therapy for phobias and other problems linked to maladaptive anxiety, in which triggers are presented in intense forms, either in imagination or in real life; the presentations are continued until the stimuli no longer produce disabling anxiety; the hope is that by 'overloading'–ie flooding the person's psyche with the dread event or object, anxiety is exhausted and the Pt learns to cope with largely irrational fears. See Aversion therapy, Behavioral therapy, Encounter group therapy, Imaging aversion therapy, Systematic desensitization.