Phobias Flashcards
What is a phobia?
An irrational fear and anxiety triggered by an object, place or situation.
What is the latest version of the DSM?
- Specific phobia
- Social phobia
- Agroraphobia
What is a specific phobia? DSM
Phobia of an object, such as animal or body parts, or a situation, such as flying.
What is a social phobia? DSM
Social anxiety, phobia of a social situation such as public speaking or using a public toilet
What is agroraphobia?
Phobia of being outside or in a public space.
What are the behavioral characterisitcs of phobias?
- panic
- Avoidance
- Endurance
Behaviour : PANIC
- response to phobic stimulus
- crying, screaming, running away
- childern may freeze or have a tantrum
Behaviour : AVOIDANCE
- prevent coming into contact with the phobic stimulus
- makes it hard to go about real life
- can interfere with work, education and social life
Behaviour : ENDURANCE
- when a person chooses to remain in the presense of the phobic stimulus
What are the 2 emotional characteristics?
- Anxiety
2. Fear
Emotional : ANXIETY
- unpleasant state of high arousal
- prevents a person from relaxing
- can be long term
Emotional : FEAR
- usually more intense but experienced for shorter periods than anxiety
Why is emotional response seen as unreasonable?
Anxiety or fear is very disproportionate to any threat posed
what are the 3 cognitive characteristics of phobias?
- selective attention
- irrational beliefs
- cognitive distortions
Cognitive: SELECTIVE ATTENTION
- hard to look away from the phobic stimulus
- keeping our attention on something is useful as we can react quickly but not when we have an irrational fear
