mental disorders:phobias

Question 1

what is a phobia?

Answer 1

An irrational fear of an object or situation

Question 2

How are phobias characterised?

Answer 2

..characterised by excessive fear and anxiety triggered by an object, place or situation

Question 3

what are behavioural characteristics of phobias?

Answer 3

Panic
Avoidance
Endurance

Question 4

panic?

Answer 4

..phobic person=may panic in response to the presence of the phobic stimulus
may involve crying, running away and screaming (range of behaviours)
children= involves clinging/throwing a tantrum

Question 5

avoidance?

Answer 5

…sufferer tends to go through a lot of effort to avoid coming into contact with the phobic stimulus

e. g. fear of toilets= may have to limit the time they spend outside the house
* it can make it hard to go about their daily life

Question 6

endurance?

Answer 6

…the sufferer remain in the presence of the phobic stimulus BUT continues to experience high levels of anxiety

Question 7

What are cognitive characteristics of phobias?

Answer 7

selective attention to the phobic stimulus
irrational beliefs
cognitive distortions

Question 8

selective attention to the phobic stimulus?

Answer 8

… sufferer keeps their attention on the phobic stimulus giving them a better chance of reacting quickly if it was to be a threat

Question 9

irrational beliefs?

Answer 9

… a person with arachnophobia may believe that all spiders are dangerous and deadly, despite the fact that no spiders in the UK are actually deadly.

Question 10

cognitive distortions?

Answer 10

… the phobic’s perceptions of the phobic stimulus may be distorted
E.G Omphalophobic =likely to see belly buttons as ‘ugly’ or ‘disgusting’

Question 11

What are emotional characteristics of phobias?

Answer 11

Anxiety

Fear

Question 12

Anxiety?

Answer 12

… they involve and emotional response of anxiety which prevents the sufferer relaxing and makes it difficult to experience any positive emotion