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Dog Gone Good: managing dog phobia in a teenage boy with a learning disability
Author(s) -
Newman Craig,
Adams Katie
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
british journal of learning disabilities
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.633
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1468-3156
pISSN - 1354-4187
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-3156.2004.00259.x
Subject(s) - anxiety , specific phobia , psychology , phobic disorder , relaxation (psychology) , desensitization (medicine) , systematic desensitization , learning disability , clinical psychology , psychotherapist , developmental psychology , psychiatry , medicine , anxiety disorder , social psychology , receptor
Summary This is a case study of a 17‐year‐old boy with a moderate learning disability who had a severe phobia of dogs. A systematic desensitization approach with relaxation and modelling was used to manage his phobic response to dogs. A hierarchy of fear was identified, and progress was made by increasing the level of exposure to dogs whilst controlling for anxiety levels. Results showed that after 28 sessions (980 min), M.V. (the client) was able to manage his both behaviour and anxiety level when in contact with unfamiliar loose dogs. The study highlighted the importance of selecting an appropriate model and brought into light some ethical concerns in working with young people who have fears of possibly dangerous animals such as dogs.