Phobias

Question 1

what are phobias?

Answer 1

anxiety disorders that cause irrational fears that produce a conscious avoidance of that object or situation

Question 2

what does the DSM-5 see phobias as?

Answer 2

an anxiety disorder which cases a person to have a consistent fear an object or situation a disproportionate amount to the true threat of the phobia. it is something of which a person will therefore go to great lengths to avoid and will experience distress if they are unable to do so. for it to meet the criteria of a phobia it must interfere with social and work life

Question 3

what are the three types of phobias?

Answer 3

Specific

Social

Agoraphobia

Question 4

what is a specific phobia?

Answer 4

animal

natural environment

blood/injections

situational

other

Question 5

what is a social phobia?

Answer 5

fear of a social situation of a fear of interacting with other people

Question 6

what is an agoraphobia?

Answer 6

fear of open spaces or a fear of being far from home

Question 7

what are emotional characteristics of a phobias?

Answer 7

fear

anxiety

venerability

Question 8

what are behavioural characteristics of phobias?

Answer 8

panic

avoidance

endurance

Question 9

what are the cognitive characteristics of phobias?

Answer 9

irrational thoughts

the person is aware that their fear is excessive

thinking resists rational arguments about the phobia

Question 10

what is systematic desensitisation?

Answer 10

it is a therapy based on classical conditioning and it aims to replace the undesirable behaviours caused by phobias with desirable ones

Question 11

what are the stages of systematic desensitisation?

Answer 11

client is taught deep relaxation techniques such as controlled breathing and progressive muscle relaxation, this will in turn eventual replace the fear response of a phobic stimulus with a relaxed one.

negotiation, the client will discuss and create their own hierarchy of fear which they will progress through to get over their phobia

graduated exposure, the hierarchy of needs is worked through until the end of which the client will be fully comfortable with their prior phobia

Question 12

what is a hierarchy of fears?

Answer 12

it is a scale of increasing intensity as the phobia is slowly more and more prominent. it could start with thinking about spiders and end with holding one for example

Question 13

how is the hierarchy of fears used in systematic desensitisation?

Answer 13

the person slowly goes up. they can only do on to the next stage once they are comfortable with their current one and this is where the relaxations techniques they were taught in the first stage will come into use. if at any point the client feels uncomfortable then they must go back down until they are completely calm again. by the end of this treatment they should be comfortable with the most extreme situations so with spiders for example they will be able to comfortably hold one by the end and have gotten over their phobia

Question 14

how long does SD take?

Answer 14

it depends on the phobia but is usually 4-6 but can be up to 12 sessions for more sever phobias

Question 15

what research supports the effectiveness of systematic desensitisation?

Answer 15

42 patients were treated for arachnophobia with SD and their response to spiders after was recorded along with a questionnaire. after this a control group were taught the relaxation techniques but were not exposed to the phobia. they were seen 3 and the 33 months after and their response to spiders were recorded as well. it was found that the group that had been exposed were less fearful of the spiders/

Question 16

what are the two parts to flooding?

Answer 16

unavoidable exposure ad extinction

Question 17

what is unavoidable exposure?

Answer 17

they are placed in a situation of which the phobia is directly involved whether its vitro or vivo in the most immediate and unavoidable way

Question 18

what is extinction?

Answer 18

it is the replacement of a fearful response of a phobia with a neutral one. it is still exposure but without gradual exposure or the hierarchy of fear

Question 19

what is the process of flooding?

Answer 19

if we compare it with SD, it is starting from the top.. the person is immediately put in direct contact with the phobia until they learn that the phobia is harmless and they lose the fearful and anxious response. they remain contact until the client is fully calm

Question 20

what is vitro?

Answer 20

the client imagines the situation

Question 21

what is vivo?

Answer 21

the client is in the situation

Question 22

what research supports flooding?

Answer 22

Keene et al (1989) studied 24 Vietnam veterans suffering from PTSD and went though 14-1 sessions of flooding therapy. they were tested before, after and 6 months after the therapy for symptoms of PTSD. they were compared to a control group who had no therapy and those who did have therapy had fewer flashbacks of the war

Question 23

what are pros of flooding therapy?

Answer 23

it is cost effective compared to cognitive therapies

it has been compared to other treatments but is far quicker

Question 24

what are cons of flooding therapy?

Answer 24

less effective as more abstract phobias such as social ones

ethics can be questions as it is traumatic for someone to go through

Question 25

what are pros of SD?

Answer 25

quicker and takes less effort than psychotherapy

can treat a wide range of phobias

Question 26

what are cons of SD?

Answer 26

while it appears to solve the issue but simply eliminating or suppressing could just lead to a different set of symptoms