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flooding

flooding

1 7.4
A treatment where a person stays with a feared thing until anxiety goes down
  • noun
  • /ˈflʌdɪŋ/
  • Specialized
translation icon : terapia de inundación
  • If you dream about flooding, it's like a fear of being flooded by emotion, a fear of being overtaken by your feelings.
  • technique called "flooding"

Examples

  • In the course of behavior therapy programs—flooding, reciprocal inhibition, and so forth.

    Academic text (1990)
  • Flooding into her head came more memories, preventing her from thinking her own thoughts.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • And was not all this flooding done to get rid of sin?

    Blog text (10)
  • They have screened 230 soybean lines for DNA markers linked to flooding tolerance and have identified several.

    Academic text (1997)
  • Together they reduce the likelihood of escalation of arousal, flooding, and retraumatization and help clients develop a sense of mastery and self-management over intense somatic states.

    Academic text (2009)
  • Therapists often use flooding to help patients confront their deepest fears.

  • In cognitive-behavioral therapy, flooding allows individuals to face their anxieties directly.

  • The technique of flooding involves prolonged exposure to a feared situation to reduce anxiety.

Synonyms

implosion therapy
vsflooding
  • Specialized
9.1

A treatment where a person faces intense fears in a safe place to reduce anxiety

exposes a person intensely in a prolonged session until anxiety decreases

Antonyms

39 3.7

Keeping away from something or stopping it from happening

Compounds

Water covers a large area and causes damage

How Intense

flooding
  • Specialized
1 7.4
exposure therapy
  • Specialized
2 4.6
systematic desensitization
  • Specialized
1 6.7

Surface Forms

flooding singular
floodings plural

Morphology

flooding = flood (semi-transparent) = flood + ing

The psychological term is derived from the verb sense 'to overwhelm' but is a specialized therapeutic technique, so the relation is clear but the clinical meaning is specialized.

Etymology

Flooding in therapy also borrows the water image: the root flood means 'to fill or overwhelm', and in this treatment a person is fully exposed to what they fear until their fear gets smaller. That's why the method is called flooding.