Effects of participant modeling and desensitization on childhood warm water phobia.
Parental participant modeling and contact desensitization were used to reduce phobia of warm water bathing in a 6-year-old male burn victim traumatized by his natural parents. Cradled in an adoptive parent's arms, the child contacted, entered, and remained in increasingly warmer and deeper water for 3-min intervals during daily 15-min bathing routines. Treatment effected heat and depth tolerance to the point that the subject maintained desired behavior without parental assistance. Heat and depth tolerance persisted through a 6-month follow-up period.
Osborn
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D001494:Baths / Q000523:psychology; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D002056:Burns / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse; D003887:Desensitization, Psychologic / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior; D008297:Male; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D013696:Temperature