Aversion therapy is a psychotherapy that is used to cause a patient to avoid undesirable behavior by conditioning the person to associate the behavior with an undesirable stimulus. Some of these undesirable stimuli include electrical, chemical, or imagine aversive situations. The first thing that comes to my mind is someone trying to quit smoking and receiving an electrical shock every time they view an image of a cigarette in order to make them not want to see cigarettes or smoke them. People believe that aversion therapy can be unethical because it is using punishment as a therapeutic tool. Personally, I believe that aversion therapy is not unethical because the person is choosing to participate in order to stop their undesired behavior.
Emetic methods are also used in aversion therapy, this is when the use of medication is used to induce nausea and vomiting. Another way to use medication for aversion therapy is a medicine that creates illness or discomfort when it interacts with a certain substance, this can make it easier to quit an addiction because when the person ingests their chosen addiction substance, they become ill and if this happens continuously then they will be turned away.
https://www.choosingtherapy.com/aversion-therapy/
I also believe that aversion therapy is ethical because the person is making a personal decision to take part in this sort of therapy. They are trying to stop a certain behavior and it is as if they are choosing this sort of therapy to do so.
ReplyDeleteAversion therapy is very ethical. Agreed. Although it may seem kind of strange to some, this is the best way to break an addiction other than going full on cold turkey!
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