Category / Research

by laurenalder

CBT Therapy Tips: The Anxiety Ladder (“Dentist Fear Factor” Edition)

Other writers might find the concept of the anxiety ladder useful, either in a personal sense or as something a character might use. 🙂

Confession time, everybody — I am flat-out TERRIFIED of dentists. My anxiety levels shoot off the charts just thinking about them. However, I suspect I have developed a cavity. Therefore a dental appointment is lurking somewhere in my fairly near future.

So here’s a cognitive behavioural therapy anxiety ladder which I absolutely MUST climb… the idea is to list the necessary steps to achieve a goal, with the easiest tasks at the bottom, building up to the most terrifying elements at the top. Then I need to work on each step, starting with the lowest, until it drops to a 1/10 or a 2/10 on the anxiety scale (in other words, until I habituate to the stimulus). From there I move up to the next step until I’ve habituated to that as well, and keep going until I reach the top step and accomplish the goal.

So…

GOAL: To get my teeth looked at by a dentist.

10/10: Actually having the dentist poking around in my mouth

9/10: Sit down in the dentist chair on appointment day

9/10: Walk down the hall to the dentist chair cubicle on appointment day

8/10: Sit in the waiting room on the appointment day

8/10: Look at online photos of dental procedures

7/10: Walk into the office on the day of the appointment

7/10: Make the appointment

6/10: Sit in the waiting room on NOT the appointment day, for at least 30 minutes; do this at least 3 times

6/10: Walk into the office on NOT the appointment day, talk to receptionist, walk out again; do this at least 5 times

6/10: Meet and greet with the dentist and his nurses, tour the facility, fill in a chart, NO MEDICAL TREATMENT

6/10: Look at online photos of people in dentist chairs

DONE: 6/10 (dropped to 1/10): Talk to the receptionist on phone, explain desensitization need — EMAILED INSTEAD, got a call back, arranged for “meet and greet” with the dentist and his nurses in a couple of weeks

5/10: Visualize walking into the dentist’s office, imagine the smells and the sounds and the colours

DONE: 5/10 (dropped to 1/10): Look up the dentist’s address and phone number online

As you can see, most of the steps here are fairly high-level to begin with, so this will be a long-term process of desensitization. Fortunately my local dental clinic is open to working with me on this — including letting me come and sit in the waiting room for a half hour or so, several times a week, without having an actual appointment. 🙂 I’ll be starting on that step next week, and doing the visualization stuff (including looking at photos online) in the meantime.

Also, a friend has offered to let me come with her to her dental hygiene appointment, to sit in and watch the procedure. I think this is an excellent idea, as long as it doesn’t occur too soon in the desensitization sequence (for example, I could probably handle it ten days from now, but not five days from now). So I will get back to her and see how that goes!

I’ve been in the CBT Mixed Anxiety group sessions for about five weeks now, and I must say that CBT training is already starting to make a difference both with how I cope with anxiety and in my overall anxiety levels. So hurray!

by laurenalder

Research for “Where Darkness Falls”: The explanation and the questions for psych graduates (first draft)

I’ve had a couple of friends who have psych degrees offer to take part in my research, so if I can find one more psych grad who’s willing to take part, I’ll be doing wonderfully well. 🙂

The plan is to send out the questionnaire below, then once the email answers come back I will possibly arrange for a 30 minute to 1 hour interview with each participant, to see if any further information shakes loose in the one-on-one conversation. Each participant will be offered an honorarium of $25-$50, plus inclusion in the Acknowledgements section of the published novel.

***************************************

Dear [Name], 

Thank you for your time and attention, and for your willingness to help me out with this essential research for my upcoming novel, ‘Where Darkness Falls”. 

“Where Darkness Falls” is a science fiction/urban fantasy novel set in Chicago in the year 2038. The male main character, Jeremy Anderson, is a Manifester: that is, a human capable of manifesting supernatural abilities based on his religious beliefs. Jeremy is a Southern Baptist, so his abilities include the gift of prophecy, the power to detect the energy of other Manifesters, and the creation of the Armour of God (around himself and anybody else he chooses to protect).

Jeremy has a B.Sc. or B.A.. in Psychology from Oklahoma City University, concentrating on either behavioural management or social psychology. (Or he might have a major in Psychology and a minor in Sociology.) His goal was to prepare for induction into the Department of Paranormal Investigation (DPNI), which is a secret government agency that employs Manifesters to protect the general public from supernatural threats. In particular, he wanted to focus on acquiring skills that would (1) help him to control individuals and crowds, and (2) enable him to direct and redirect interviews and conversations in order to gain as much information as possible while revealing as little as possible about himself.

The single word that would best describe Jeremy is “strict”. He is devout in his faith, intensely self-controlled, and as self-contained as possible. A painful episode of personal betrayal during his university years has left him highly suspicious of the motivations of those around him. On a purely personal level, he consciously uses his psychology training to protect himself and to preserve his privacy.

I do know that Jeremy has a soft spot for children and spends part of his free time working with troubled youth in Chicago’s inner city, so it’s likely he’s taken at least some basic classes in child psychology and childhood therapy.

POTENTIAL QUESTIONS

1) As a psychology graduate, what training would you consciously use if you wanted to prevent other people from getting too close to you?

2) What training would you use to draw as much information as possible out of a person you were interviewing?

3) What training would you use to draw as much information as possible out of a person you were having a “casual” conversation with?

4) What training would you use to redirect a discussion (either interviews or conversations) to prevent the other person from learning about you?

5) If you wanted to manipulate an individual into doing something that you want them to do, which behavioural theory would you consider most effective?

6) What type of courses would Jeremy take if he wanted to work with troubled youth after graduation?

7) What social psychology courses (or other types of courses) might be particularly useful for him, as a government agent?

8) What degree, or degree combo in a 4-year period, do you think might be most helpful for somebody of Jeremy’s temperament and professional ambitions?

9) Given Jeremy’s pessimistic nature, is there a particular type of psychological theory that he might feel drawn to? (The work of Skinner, for example.)

10) Again, given Jeremy’s view of humanity as fundamentally “fallen” and untrustworthy, is there a particular type of psychological theory that he might consider to be complete nonsense?

by laurenalder

Starting research for “Where Darkness Falls”…

Just got off the phone with the U of M Psychology Department’s student advisor, who is willing to accept my contact information to pass on to a student who might be willing to be interviewed as part of my research for “Where Darkness Falls” (since Jeremy Anderson possesses a B.A. in Psychology and I’m trying to figure out how that degree will factor in with his personality). She’ll also send me the contact info for the Undergraduate Psychology Students Association, where I might find other students willing to speak to me.
 
I’m wondering how much of an honorarium I should offer for about an hour’s worth of interview time. Any suggestions would be welcomed. 🙂