What does "desensitizing" mean for a behavioral addict?

What does "desensitizing" mean for a behavioral addict?

Marc Kern (Addiction Expert, Director of Addiction Alternatives) gives expert video advice on: What is "outpatient care" for behavioral addiction?; What is outpatient treatment like for behavioral addiction?; How can recovering behavioral addicts reduce the risks in their environment? and more...

We can use the scenario of everytime one sees a video screen, one fantasizes about sitting down and playing on it. This behavioural addiction is called learned association, and desensitizing a behavioural addict only means continuing to present the object to the addict, the sensitized stimuli in their presense, and teaching the addict a way to relax in the face of being exposed to their addiction, and over time desensitizing them to the learned association between the video monitor and the action of playing on it. In phobias, desensitizing is a central technique where, for example, you were sensitized to spiders, and you were very afraid of spiders. During the first session a spider might not even be brought into the room. During the second session a spider may simply be discussed. During the third session a picture might be brought in, but all along the sufferer would be taught relaxation techniques, so they would learn to relax in th presence of a spider. Over time a real spider would be brought in, and then brought a little closer to you, a little closer to you and a little closer to you, therefore desensitizing you to the stimuli.