Flooding Psychology, also known as sensory overload, is the process of overwhelming the senses and causing panic in an individual. It can be highly effective at breaking through negative thought patterns and building new positive behavior, but it’s sometimes considered controversial and extreme.
Flooding Psychology
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Flooding is a psychological tactic that is commonly used to break someone’s will. The technique includes continuous verbal abuse, no response from the target, intense staring, and broadcasting of negative information about the person.
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This technique was famously shown in the movie A Clockwork Orange when Alex and his gang have a little fun with their potential victim.
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The process of flooding is to bombard a person with negative stimuli until they can no longer function as before.
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The most famous example of flooding is A Clockwork Orange when Alex and his gang go around London assaulting people.
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This included continuous verbal abuse, staring into their eyes, and broadcasting negative information about them.
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The procedure for flooding is quite simple. First, find out everything you can about your target. Second, apply a variety of techniques to distract and disturb them so that they are forced to focus on something else other than what they have going on in their life.
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Finally, broadcast negative information about them to everyone you know until they fall into depression. Once they’re at their lowest point, keep pestering them until their will is broken and they no longer try anything new or interesting with their life.
Flooding Psychology Example
Unfortunately, flooding is one of the few treatments that are both highly effective and completely non-invasive.
This makes it a great choice for anyone with mild symptoms or even those who don’t wish to take antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications, or other medications.
Flooding is also a great option for patients who are pregnant or have mental health conditions such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.
Flooding Therapy may also be appropriate for people with any of these conditions: Agoraphobia, Anxiety, Claustrophobia, Panic Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and Social Phobia.
Additionally, many people suffering from less severe symptoms or milder forms of these conditions find relief from flooding therapy and can then move on to other therapies or coping techniques.
Flooding is a relatively simple process that can be explained as flooding therapy, flooding treatment, and flooding psychotherapy. Before we can delve into what it involves, let’s first look at what causes anxiety and panic attacks to occur.
Flooding Psychology Advantages and Disadvantages
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Flooding is a form of behavior therapy where patients are exposed to their triggers at a rate that creates overstimulation and makes it hard for them to pay attention.
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Studies have shown this therapy to be effective in treating depression and OCD, but there can be serious side effects.
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It is often considered the hardest therapy out of all four we will be discussing, so if you’re not up for it, other methods work just as well with less painful side effects.
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The flooding therapy method is based on the theory that all our behaviors, both good and bad, are learned.
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Flooding attempts to break down your old learned patterns by repeatedly exposing you to whatever it is that triggers a negative behavior to recondition your reactions.
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This exposure is done either in imagination or through confrontation with your feared object or situation.
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Each of these four types of flooding therapy methods can help in dealing with anxiety disorders and depression, but their uses are not universal.
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They are often used as a last resort when other treatment methods have failed. However, each type does work best for a specific type of disorder and patient profile. To choose which one is right for you, consult with your doctor or psychiatrist.
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You will be practicing each method over and over again until you learn to no longer respond to situations as negatively as you once did.
Systematic Desensitization
One popular behavioral therapy technique is called flooding, which starts with a person being exposed to their worst fear for the first time.
Then, over days or weeks, the situation that makes them uncomfortable is gradually reduced until they are used to it.
The therapist helps them endure their fears by giving instructions for a certain period or until they feel less anxious.
The exposure isn’t prolonged to intensify feelings of fear and anxiety; rather, it serves as a rehearsal to reduce them. It also lets patients experience that facing their fears makes them easier to handle in the future.
For instance, for someone afraid of dogs, getting bitten is not recommended. The goal is to first meet a dog in a neutral setting and slowly expose them to different types of dogs.
A child who’s afraid of falling might be exposed to a supervised playground, then by themselves on equipment that’s closer to the ground until they are climbing trees.
Emotional Flooding Psychology
Emotional flooding is when someone reacts with an extreme emotional response, feeling overwhelmed and having a hard time managing what they are feeling. It may involve being either happy or sad, and it often occurs without warning.
To provide an example of this type of experience, you might be reading your favorite book when suddenly tears start to roll down your face and you don’t know why.
Emotional flooding is also a potential cause of depression and anxiety. Having an emotional response that becomes so extreme and unexpected can leave you feeling completely helpless, which could lead to further problems for those who are already experiencing symptoms of these mental disorders.
An example of an experience with emotional flooding maybe when someone feels a sense of dread whenever they get on an elevator or ride in a car, especially if they have had past experiences where they felt as though they were in danger while being transported.
Emotional flooding can be an isolating experience. Most people don’t know how to help someone who is undergoing an extreme emotional response, so those who have experienced emotional flooding may feel that they have no one with whom they can talk about what is happening or seek comfort when they are feeling overwhelmed by their emotions.
This can lead to feelings of loneliness and isolation, as well as not having anyone to turn to for support when feelings of depression or anxiety become too much to handle on your own.
Systematic Desensitization vs Flooding
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The name flooding may sound harsh, but it has a specific purpose. Flooding is the exact opposite of desensitization in that it forces you to confront something so intensely that you gradually get used to it over time.
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This is often done through therapy sessions where the psychologist employs methods like prolonged exposure and emotional reactivity to help people with their anxiety or other mental illness.
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There are cases though where flooding can be an abusive practice and take away power from the patient.
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When used appropriately though, flooding and desensitization are two of many treatments for conditions like panic attacks and anxiety.
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Desensitization can be easier to implement because it’s a simpler process where you work your way up to confronting something.
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Systematic desensitization is one of three steps in exposure therapy that are often recommended for people with social anxiety disorder.
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Exposure therapy is also frequently used in treating PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) patients as well.
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In addition to flooding, it’s important to know that other exposure therapy techniques don’t involve as much confrontation.
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For example, interoceptive exposure is when you expose yourself to anxiety-inducing stimuli (e.g., heart-rate variability training) without any outside assistance.
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Virtual reality is another way you can use exposure therapy by immersing yourself in virtual reality scenarios and environments that trigger your fear or panic.
| “Flooding,” a CBT-inspired therapy, is recommended. This theory postulates that changing a client’s attitude can lead to long-term behavior changes. | Fear Factor’s heroes survive a flood. Contestants will face their phobias on TV. Whoever can stay exposed to their fearful stimuli the longest wins. |
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| By gradually exposing the patient to their phobia in a controlled context, exposure treatment reduces phobia intensity. | “Flooding” denotes a phobia’s abrupt, severe onset. The person must address their fears head-on. |
| This is a painful but effective treatment for phobias. It works well for specific phobias like spiders and less so for agoraphobia. | |
| Flooding treatments vary. They can be exposed to or given an image of their phobia. | |
| Some people can overcome their phobia by excessive talk. In-vivo exposure is different from imaginal exposure. | Flooding involves overcoming phobias to rewrite classical conditioning. The phobe will view the phobic thing as safe. If they are frequently exposed to their phobia without distress, they will likely overcome it. |
| Flooding and systematic desensitisation are both exposure therapies, although they have different goals. | Both titles indicate a phobic person who doesn’t run from their fear. Systematic desensitisation happens gradually, unlike flooding. |
| Systematic desensitisation exposes the client to the feared stimuli until anxiety decreases. Flooding speeds up results. | Flooding patients should also practise relaxing. Relaxation therapy teaches clients stress-reduction methods to help them calm down after flooding therapy. |
Psychology Flooding Case Study
Many experiments were conducted in an attempt to overcome the tendency to avoid negative stimuli.
One experiment consisted of filling jars with brine and invertebrates so that some jars had an excessive number of organisms while others had only a few or none at all.
The idea was that if these creatures were placed in a jar, their motion would cause sufficient activity for them to get out, but some jars filled with just enough creatures would stay still and eventually die from lack of oxygen or nutrients.
The researchers expected that all of these jars would eventually become filled with salt water, and none of them would be subject to a major psychological shock, but they were wrong.
They found that when jars were quickly filled or became full of organisms, those brine shrimps began panicking and beating themselves against the sides of their glass prison.
The term flooding was applied to these studies because it resembled a flood where animals are trapped in a sudden surge of water.
In further experiments, animals would be placed in a jar that was designed to overflowboilingry hot water.
The researchers expected that these animals would quickly learn to escape when they felt discomfort from being in warm water, but it never happened. Instead, even after an enormous amount of time had passed, some of these animals would simply sit there until they perished while others flailed helplessly against their psychological barriers.
Weakness of Flooding Psychology
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With time, repeated exposures can lessen the intensity of negative emotion and make it easier to deal with.
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Flooding psychology is a process where people are exposed to their fears to gradually diminish them.
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For example, people with a fear of public speaking might volunteer for more opportunities where they have to talk in front of large groups so that the fear no longer seems as intense.
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Flooding is most effective when it’s done in vivo or in real life. For example, someone who has a fear of spiders can be exposed to small spiders in a safe environment to work up to larger ones.
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Over time, they would learn that their fear was not rational and that it doesn’t control them. After repeated exposures with no bad consequences from their fear, they would be able to overcome it completely.
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Flooding is not effective when it’s done through imagination. For example, a fear of public speaking might be treated by reading stories about people who overcame that fear and then imagining yourself overcoming your fear.
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Imagination triggers a desire to escape, preventing flooding from being successful in these cases.
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Alternatively, someone with a social anxiety disorder might imagine themselves engaging in social situations without actually going through with them.
| Emotional flooding is when someone reacts with an extreme emotional response, feeling overwhelmed and having a hard time managing what they are feeling. | This can lead to feelings of loneliness and isolation, as well as not having anyone to turn to for support when feelings of depression or anxiety become too much to handle on your own |
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| It may involve being either happy or sad, and it often occurs without warning. | To provide an example of this type of experience, you might be reading your favorite book when suddenly tears start to roll down your face and you don’t know why. |
| Having an emotional response that becomes so extreme and unexpected can leave you feeling completely helpless, which could lead to further problems for those who are already experiencing symptoms of these mental disorders. | An example of an experience with emotional flooding maybe when someone feels a sense of dread whenever they get on an elevator or ride in a car, especially if they have had past experiences where they felt as though they were in danger while being transported. |
| Emotional flooding can be an isolating experience. | Most people don’t know how to help someone who is undergoing an extreme emotional response, so those who have experienced emotional flooding may feel that they have no one with whom they can talk about what is happening or seek comfort when they are feeling overwhelmed by their emotions. |
Summary
The flooding technique is a powerful method of treating phobias. This method was pioneered by psychiatrist Dr. Joseph Wolpe in the 1960s. He had treated a woman with a fear of water using the flooding technique and she had become cured. The treatment consists of gradually exposing an individual to situations that evoke their deepest fears and bringing them back to their here and now until they can handle these experiences without much discomfort or distress.
Frequently Asked Questions
Some Important Questions For Your Knowledge:
1. Are floods a behavioral technique?
Unfortunately, floods are often utilized in business and sales practices to overcome customer resistance and encourage them to buy products. This behavior is not only unethical but also psychologically harmful to the customers. Floods, as a technique, work by breaking down customers’ mental defenses by barraging them with an excessive amount of information to confuse them into submission. The result of this bombardment is that the customer will feel lost and wiped out which often leads them to make rash decisions they wouldn’t normally make.
2. What’s a typical example of flooding in psychology?
In psychology, flooding is a way to treat phobias by exposing oneself to the feared object over and over again until one grows accustomed to it. It can also be used to desensitize people from painful memories so that they feel less anxiety when reminded of the event. Flooding may be effective in treating both adults and children but it has been shown that children recover more quickly than adults. Additionally, you can only flood an individual once per day and no more than three times per week.
3. When emotional flooding sets in, how does it feel?
When emotional flooding sets in, it can feel like a constant barrage of negativity is battering you from all sides. Your heart beats faster, your chest constricts and you might start hyperventilating or struggling to breathe. An emotional flood makes any challenging situation feel ten times worse, and it can be tough to break out of the cycle.
5. Why do you want to know?
What is flooding psychology? How does it work and what are the pros and cons? Flooding refers to when you over-expose your senses to a stimulus or sight. There are both beneficial and negative aspects to flooding. The therapeutic aspect of this therapy comes from its ability to desensitize one’s body to the stimulus or sight they cannot handle then.
6. What is the phenomenon called cognitive flooding?
Cognitive flooding refers to an intense, or flooding amount of information. The theory of cognitive flooding proposes that this overload leads to confusion in the recipients of the message, making them less likely to recall important details. Cognitive researchers discovered a phenomenon called functional fixation which occurs when exposure to excessive amounts of information distorts perception and prevents learners from perceiving other information.
7. What is flooding in psychology?
We use the term flooding to describe a psychological state in which an individual feels overwhelmed by emotional input, and unable to process it. Flooding can be a positive and productive experience if it’s handled carefully.
8. How do you differentiate it from systematic desensitization?
Flooding doesn’t require the exposure be repetitive over time, like systematic desensitization does. It is a way to reduce fear or anxiety in a very short period by subjecting someone to their fear or anxiety until they become numb to it. For example, if you have an irrational fear of snakes and want to confront your fears, you might hold one and pet it until you get used to it.
9. Who first suggested flooding in psychology?
The early 20th century psychologist John B. Watson popularized the use of flooding therapy, a type of behavior modification treatment in which an unwanted behavior is intentionally and continually evoked to eliminate it. Though flooding is technically not a form of punishment, it can feel like one because the only way to escape from being flooded with something is to stop doing whatever it is you’re doing or risk feeling even worse.
10. How does emotional flooding happen?
Emotional flooding occurs when a person is inundated with too much emotion, leading to the inability to deal with their feelings and things spiraling out of control. This can happen for many reasons including divorce, abuse, family deaths, loss of friendships, rejection, and/or bullying. For children with autism or Asperger’s syndrome, it may be caused by sensory overload where they cannot filter information in the same way as neurotypical people.
Conclusion
People have a different experience with flooding because of the variety of emotions involved. Yet, if you manage to face your fear through each exposure and bring mindful attention to the situation, you will likely notice that the fear becomes less intense and is easier to cope with. Flooding therapy is a type of exposure therapy where patients are encouraged to confront their fears under controlled conditions. It’s helpful for those who want to find relief from anxiety or PTSD by having patients face their fears while they’re in a safe environment.