Characteristics of phobias

Question 1

What are phobias?

Answer 1

Anxiety disorder

Excessive fear/anxiety —> triggered by object or situation

Fear is completely out of all proportion to the stimulus

Leads to conscious avoidance of the stimulus.

Question 2

What is specific phobias?

Answer 2

Fears about specific objects/situations

Question 3

What is agoraphobia?

Answer 3

Fear of being in situations where escape might be difficult/ help would not be available if things go wrong.

Question 4

What is social phobias?

Answer 4

Anxiety relating to social situations

Public speaking/using public toilet

Question 5

What are the behavioural characteristics of phobias?

Answer 5

Panic —-> involves screaming/crying

Avoidance —-> Person makes conscious efforts to prevents going to places where phobia may reside in.

Endurance —-> Opposite of avoidance. Choose to remain in presence of phobic stimulus.

Question 6

What are the emotional characteristics of phobias?

Answer 6

Anxiety —> Unpleasant state of high arousal. Prevents person from relaxing and difficult to experience positive emotions

Fear —-> An immediate unpleasant response upon encountering phobic stimulus. Usually more intense and shorter.

Unreasonable emotional response —-> Disproportionate to any threat posed.

Question 7

What are the cognitive characteristics of phobias?

Answer 7

~~~How people process information

Selective attention to the phobic stimulus ——> Struggle to concentrate as attention always on the stimulus to avoid any ‘threat’.

Irrational beliefs —> Ideas that can’t be easily explained/hold any basis to reality.

Cognitive distortions —> Perceptions of phobic person may be inaccurate and unrealistic.