Question

Dr. chen's patient has a severe phobia of crowded places. dr. chen plans to use systematic desensitization to help the patient. is dr. chen's treatment plan likely the best one for the patient?

Answer 1

Dr. Chen's treatment plan using systematic desensitization would work very well on the patient and would require minimal (depending on the severity of the patient's phobia) commitment both monetarily or with regards to time. Dr. Chen could start by showing the patient mere pictures of crowded places while practicing relaxation techniques. Then, the Dr. may work similarly through a succession of increasingly anxiety-producing procedures and finally end with the patient in a crowded room practicing his relaxation methods.

Answer 2

Systematic desensitization as graduated exposure therapy, that aims to remove the fear response of a phobia. The idea is to substitute the fear with a relaxation response to the conditional stimulus.
Yes, Dr.Chen's treatment plan is likely the best one for the patient, because systematic desensitization is an effective treatment to reduce anxiety in individuals when exposed to fearful situations.