Characteristics of Phobias

Question 1

Mental health professionals have two classification systems to use for coding mental disorders:

Answer 1

the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)
the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)

The DSM is developed by primarily by U.S. psychiatrists (the American Psychiatric Association - APA), whereas the ICD is produced by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Question 2

A type of anxiety disorder, characterised by:

Answer 2

‘Uncontrollable, extreme, irrational and enduring fears and involve anxiety levels that are out of proportion to any actual risk.’

Question 3

what are specific phobias

Answer 3

A marked and persistent fear of specific things/environments.

Question 4

what are examples specific phobias

Answer 4

• Animal phobias e.g. arachnophobia (fear of spiders)
• Injury phobias e.g. haematophobia (fear of blood)
• Situational phobias e.g. aerophobia (fear of flying)
• Natural environment phobias e.g. astraphobia
  (fear of thunderstorms)

Question 5

what is a social phobia

Answer 5

A fear of social situations – a fear of negative judgement by others and feeling inadequate.

Question 6

what do social phobias consist of/give examples

Answer 6

Performance phobias: being anxious about performing in public e.g. playing at a concert.

Interaction phobias: being anxious about mixing with others e.g. going on a date.

Generalised phobias: being anxious about situations where other people are present
e. g. being in a crowd at a football match.

Question 7

what is Agoraphobia

Answer 7

Anxiety about being in open spaces or situations from which escape might be difficult (or embarrassing) or in which help may not be available in the event of having an situationally predisposed panic attack or panic like symptoms.

Question 8

Situations outside the home that might cause anxiety include:

Answer 8

being in a crowd;
being on a bridge,
travelling in a bus or on a train.

Can occur with/without panic attacks.

Question 9

Emotional Characteristics of Phobias

Answer 9

Anxiety:
Fear is marked and persistent, and is likely to be excessive, due to the presence of or anticipation of the phobic object/situation.

Emotional responses are unreasonable:
The emotional response is wildly disproportionate to the danger posed by the phobic object/situation
i.e. it goes beyond what is reasonable .

Question 10

Behavioural Characteristics of Phobias

Answer 10

Avoidance:
Efforts are made to avoid coming into contact with the phobic stimulus in order to reduce the chances of an anxious response occurring e.g. avoid flying/social situations.

Panic:
Panic may involve a range of behaviours such as crying, screaming, freezing, running away, fainting, collapsing.

Question 11

Cognitive Characteristics of Phobias

Answer 11

Irrational beliefs:
A phobic may hold irrational beliefs in relation to the phobic stimuli e.g. if I get on that plane it will crash and I will die.

Selective attention to the phobic stimulus:
A phobic will focus on the feared stimulus finding it difficult to concentrate on or think about anything else.