You may travelling ahead. First, you have this free ASWB exam practice question about flying phobia:
A client seeks therapy to address his phobia about flying. Every time he gets near an airport, he breaks out in a sweat, and if he tries to board an airplane, he has a full-blown panic attack. The MOST effective treatment option is:
A. Exposure therapy
B. Cognitive behavioral therapy
C. Referring the client to a psychiatrist for anti-anxiety medication he can take when he has to fly.
D. Psychodynamic psychotherapy
How do you answer?
Let's take the answers one by one, from the bottom.
D. Psychodynamic psychotherapy involves looking into one's past experiences and conflicts to resolve a current situation. It's a long-term therapy and often not practical for the treatment of phobias. There's also little clinical research on its efficacy in cases of phobia.
C. Medication is a temporary solution at best. It may get the client through one or two instances when he has to fly, but over the long term, it makes more sense to work on extinguishing the irrational fear.
B. Cognitive behavioral therapy is evidence-based treatment for anxieties and phobias. It's a good answer. But is it the best offered answer here? The best answer is the more specific answer. It is...
D. Exposure therapy, in which the client is gradually exposed to more intense fear-inducing stimuli (discussion, pictures, a visit to an aiport, and, in time, a flying). Exposure therapy--which sits under the wide umbrella that makes up all CBT treatments--is the most effective of the treatments listed.
And you have your answer!
For LOTS more questions from the DSM and all corners of the ASWB exam outline, sign up for complete, 170-question SWTP practice.
Happy studying and good luck with the exam.