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Behavior therapy
focuses entirely on changing behavior. In behavior therapy a
person with agoraphobia learns to face feared situations
instead of avoid them. This can be done in small steps (as
in systematic desensitization) or all at once (as in
flooding). Behavior therapy does not address the root
causes of agoraphobic fear, it only offers techniques to
reduce symptoms of anxiety and to keep them from coming back.
Behavior therapy for agoraphobia exists
in three main forms:
1) Cue-controlled Relaxation: Learning to put yourself
in a state of complete relaxation any time, anywhere, and on
cue. This is usually achieved through practicing deep
breathing, progressive muscle relaxation and visualization
techniques. Cue-controlled relaxation is foundational to behavior
therapy because it is used to stop panic or anxiety symptoms when practicing both systematic
desensitization and flooding.
2) Systematic Desensitization: Gradually re-conditioning
yourself to experience relaxation in place of anxiety in
feared situations and places. This can be practiced in real
life (sometimes called in vivo or graded exposure) or in
your imagination through visualization.
3) Flooding: Overcoming your fear by forcing yourself to
stay in the feared situation or place long enough for the
fear to go away.
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