characteristics of phobias

Question 1

what is a phobia ?

Answer 1

a phobia is an anxiety disorder ,which interferes with daily living
- it is an irrational fear of an object or a situation

Question 2

what does a phobia produce ?

Answer 2

it produces a conscious avoidance of the feared object or situation

Question 3

in what system are phobias categorised as an anxiety disorder ?

Answer 3

in the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM - S)

Question 4

what feature must a disorder have to be classified as an anxiety disorder ?

Answer 4

it must persist for 6 months or more

Question 5

what is the DSM-S criteria ?

Answer 5

• marked and persistant fear of a specific object or situation
  -exposure to the phobic stimulus nearly always produces a rapid anxiety response
• fear of the phobic object or situation is excessive
• the phobic stimulus is either avoided or responded to with great anxiety
• the phobic reactions interfere significantly with the individuals working or social life, or he/she is very distressed about the phobia

Question 6

what are the 3 types of phobias ?

Answer 6

• specific phobia
• social phobia
• agoraphobia

Question 7

what is meant by a specific phobia ?

Answer 7

where sufferers have fears of specific things and environments

Question 8

what can specific phobias be further divisible into ?

Answer 8

• arachnophobia: fear of spiders
• haematophobia: injury phobias
• aerophobia = situational phobias
• natural environment phobias= hydrophobia

Question 9

what is meant by a social phobia ?

Answer 9

it involves being over-anxious in social situations like having to talk in public
- they involve the perception of being judged and feeling inadequate

Question 10

what do social phobic often find difficult ?

Answer 10

conducting meaningful relationships

Question 11

what are social phobias further divisible into ?

Answer 11

• performance phobias
• interaction phobias
• generalised phobias

Question 12

what is meant by agoraphobia ?

Answer 12

• the fear of leaving home or a safe place

Question 13

what does agoraphobia often occur with ?

Answer 13

often occur with panic attacks
- where sufferers experience panic first and then anxiety which makes them feel vulnerable about being in open spaces

Question 14

what are the 2 emotional characteristics of phobias ?

Answer 14

• persistant excessive fear
• fear from exposure to phobic stimulus

Question 15

peristant excessive fear

Answer 15

phobias produce high levels of anxiety due to the presence of or anticipation of feared objects or situations

Question 16

fear from exposure to phobic stimulus

Answer 16

phobias produce an immediate response

Question 17

2 behavioural characteristics of phobias ?

Answer 17

• avoidant / anxiety response
• disruption functioning

Question 18

avoidant / anxiety response

Answer 18

efforts are made to avoid the feared objects or situations in order to reduce the chances of such anxiety responses occurring

Question 19

disruption functioning

Answer 19

anxiety and avoidance responses are so extreme that they severely interfere with the ability to conduct everyday working and social functioning

Question 20

what is the cognitive characteristic of phobias ?

Answer 20

recognition of exaggerated anxiety

Question 21

recognition of exaggerated anxiety ?

Answer 21

generally phobics are consciously aware that the anxiety levels they experience in relation to their feared objects or situation are overstated