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flooding
(flud´ing)
in behavior therapy, a form of desensitization for the treatment of phobias and related disorders in which the patient is repeatedly exposed to highly distressing stimuli
without being able to escape but without danger, until the lack of reinforcement of the anxiety response causes its extinction.
In general, the term is used for actual exposure to the stimuli, with implosion used for imagined exposure, but the two terms are sometimes used synonymously to describe either or both types of exposure.
Compare systematic desensitization.
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