Phobia

Question 1

What is the definition of phobia?

Answer 1

phobia is an inense and irrational fear of an object, situation, etc.

Question 2

What is the difference between anxiety and stress?

Answer 2

Stress is a short term stress caused by a specific stressor and can be positive, while anxiety is a long term worry/unease with no clear stessor/cause.

Question 3

What are the contributing factors of phobia?

Answer 3

GABA dysdunction, long term potentiation, stigma, specific environmental triggers, memory bias, cognitive bias, catastrophic thinking, classical conditioning precipitation, and operant conditioning perpetuation

Question 4

What are the evidence based interventions of phobia?

Answer 4

Benzodiazepines, breathing retraining, systematic desensitation, cognitive behavioural thinking, and psych education for families

Question 5

What are the factors of maintaining mental wellbeing?

Answer 5

adequete diet, sleep, social support, cognitive behavioural strategies and mindfulness meditation

Question 6

Name the similarities and differences between anxiety and phobia?

Answer 6

both are intense, irrational and long lasting, phobia has a specific fear inducing stimuli while anxietys fear is caused by not one specific real stimulus

Question 6

Define Resilience

Answer 6

the ability to recover from tough times/hardships/stressors- high resilience has been linked to greater life satisfaction and happiness

Question 7

Differences between the traditional idea of mentall wellbeing and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders idea of mental wellbeing

Answer 7

Modern idea focuses on the mental and physical impacts while ATSI situates mental wellbeing within a broader, holistic framework that recognises the importance of culture and history as factors that influences wellbeing

Question 8

Languishing vs Flourishing

Answer 8

flourishing is the optimal state of mental wellbeing where a person both feels good and functions well, languishing is experiencing low levels of positive emotions and functioning

Question 9

Mental wellbeing definition

Answer 9

Mental wellbeing comprises many aspects: how we function within ourselves to set and meet our goals and adapt to challenges, the quality of relationships we have with others , and how we relate and contribute to the broader community and society

Question 10

Signs of good mental wellbeing

Answer 10

high levels of functioning, social and emotional wellbeing, and resilience to life stressors.

Question 11

Signs of bad mental wellbeing

Answer 11

low levels of functioning, and emotional and social wellbeing, no energy, cannot overcome everyday stressors

Question 12

Relationship between stress, phobia and anxiety

Answer 12

tehy all interconnect, some not occuring without the other, can cause, occur and/or worsen each other

Question 13

Internal and External factors that influence mental wellbeing

Answer 13

genetic predisposition (bio), thought pattern (psycho), stress response (social), break up (social), access to support (social), level of education (psychological)

Question 14

Define Benzodiazepine

Answer 14

Benzodiazepines are a medication that act as an agonist, increasing the inhibitory response of GABA in individuals with GABA dysfunction (binds to postsynaptse, increases the efficiency of the GANA, making it more likely to bind)

Question 14

Define Breathing Retraining

Answer 14

breathing retraining teaches an individual techniques that they can use when experiencing anxiety in the presence of their phobic stimulus- do this so shortness of breath isn’t associated with phobic stimulus

Question 14

Define Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Answer 14

focuses on helping the person change negative thoughts (e.g. catastrophic thinking, memory bias) by replacing them with more positive, realistic ones- involves identifying and replacing negative behaviours

Question 15

Define Systematic Desensitisation

Answer 15

1. learns relaxation techniques, 2. create fear hieracy-least to most, 3. step by step expose to each item paired with relaxation technique, 4. continue until phobic stimulus no longer produces a fear response

Question 16

Define Psychoeducation for families and supporters

Answer 16

aids families and supporters of individuals with specific phobia in understanding, dealing with, and treating the phobia-
two key components; challenging unrealistic or anxious thoughts of the individual, and not encouraging avoidance behaviours

Question 16

Define Long Term Potentiation

Answer 16

neural mechanism that allows us to create assosiations between stimuli, repeated stimulation of two synapses strengthening the connection, worsening the phobia and creating assosiations between more things and the phobic stimulus

Question 17

Define GABA Dysfunction

Answer 17

If an individual has low levels of GABA, or it cannot be transmitted or received normally across the synapse, their stress response can be activated more easily and they may find it harder to calm down, making them more susceptible to phobia

Question 17

Define Adequete Diet

Answer 17

body needs suffitient energy to maintain mental wellbeing and brain functioning

Question 18

Define Adequete Sleep

Answer 18

need sleep to replemish and restore the body and mind- inadequete sleep leads to changes in emotion, difficulty concentrating and funcyioning, etc

Question 19

Define Cognitive Behaviour Strategies

Answer 19

Cognitive behaviour strategies are structured psychological treatments that recognise that a person’ way of thinking
(cognition) and acting (behaviour), affect the way they feel.

Question 19

Define Mindfulness Meditation

Answer 19

person focuses on their breathing and with thoughts, feelings and sensations being felt freely

Question 20

Define Stigma

Answer 20

Stigma is social disapproval of an individual’s personal characteristics or behaviour, or social disapproval of a certain type of behaviour.

Question 20

Define Social Support

Answer 20

Social support refers to close, positive relationships we develop with others. They
facilitate good health and moral because support from others cushions the impact of
stressful events.

Question 21

Define Specific Environmental Triggers

Answer 21

Environmental triggers is the event that triggered the phobia- can include: direct confrontation, observation(people around us), learning (or indirect confrontation), can only need to happen once if it is intense

Question 22

Define Memory Bias

Answer 22

A memory bias is a type of error in thinking that may enhance or impair the recall of a memory, or alter the content of the memory.

Question 23

Define Cognitive Bias

Answer 23

A cognitive bias is a type of error in thinking that occurs when people interpret information,
Cognitive biases may lead to inaccurate judgements or illogical interpretations of
a situation.

Question 24

Define Classical Conditioning Percipitation

Answer 24

a phobia may be (caused) by classical conditioning- associating a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus which has an unconditioned response- NS + UCS = UCR, CS = CR

Question 25

Define Operant Conditioning Perpetuation

Answer 25

The avoidance of the phobic stimulus acts as a negative reinforcer. A phobia may be perpetuated (continued) through operant conditioning

Question 26

Define catastrophic thinking

Answer 26

Catastrophic thinking occurs when an individual repeatedly overestimates the potential dangers of an object or event and assumes the worst.