Implosive therapy

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Implosive therapy (or implosion therapy) is a form of exposure therapy similar to the imaginal form of flooding, with which it can be confused.

Implosive therapy and flooding cannot be used interchangeably,as the former is flooding with a difference. Both are exposing the client to anxiety arousing stimuli for prolonged durations,but flooding deals with the actual stimulus or its image, while in implosion a much higher anxiety is evoked as the imagined scenes are exaggerated by the therapist who also introduces commentaries on the worst of the persons fears. So while in flooding you might be asked to picture spider, perhaps at various distances so the you become desensitized to the image in implosive therapy you might be asked to imagine the spider entering your mouth as you sleep if that was an anticipated fantasy aspect of your fear.