phobias

Question 1

what is a phobia?

Answer 1

an irrational fear of an object or a situation

Question 2

what is a clinical phobia?

Answer 2

a phobia that is classed as a mental disorder

Question 3

what phobias does the DSM-5 recognise?

Answer 3

• specific phobias (e.g. of an object or a situation)
• social anxiety (e.g. fear of social situations like using a public toilet)
• agoraphobia (being outside or in a public place)

Question 4

what are the 3 behavioural characteristics of phobias?

Answer 4

panic
avoidance
endurance

Question 5

what is the behavioural characteristic ‘panic’?

Answer 5

an individual may panic in response to a phobic stimulus. this is behaviour like running away, crying, screaming, or in a child, being clingy or freezing

Question 6

what is the behavioural characteristic ‘avoiance’?

Answer 6

it is when an individual goes to a lot of effort to avoid coming into contact with the phobic stimulus. this can make it hard to go about daily life.

Question 7

what is the behavioural characteristic ‘endurance’?

Answer 7

it is when a sufferer may remain in the presence of the phobic stimulus but continue to experience high levels of anxiety. this may be unavoidable sometimes.

Question 8

what is the emotional characteristic ‘anxiety’?

Answer 8

phobias are classified as anxiety disorders they involve an emotional response of anxiety and fear. this prevents the sufferer from relaxing and difficult to experience positive emotion. anxiety can be long term, fear is the immediate response to thinking about the phobic stimulus.

Question 9

what is the cognitive characteristics of phobias?

Answer 9

this is about the way people process information- phobias involve someone processing information about the phobic stimuli differently from other objects or situations

Question 10

what are the 3 cognitive characteristics of phobias?

Answer 10

selective attention to the phobic stimulus
irrational beliefs
cognitive distortions

Question 11

what is the cognitive characteristic ‘selective attention to the phobic stimulus’?

Answer 11

if a sufferer can see the phobic stimulus, it hard not to look at it. normally, paying attention to a threat or something dangerous is a good thing but not when the fear is irrational

Question 12

what is the cognitive characteristic ‘irrational beliefs’?

Answer 12

a phobic may hold irrational beliefs in relation to phobic stimuli

Question 13

what is the cognitive characteristic ‘cognitive distortions’?

Answer 13

perceptions of the phobic stimulus may be distorted

Question 14

how does the two process model explain phobias?

Answer 14

the two-process model suggests that phobias are acquired but classical conditioning and then continue due to operant conditioning

Question 15

what is the first part to the two process model ‘acquisition by classical conditioning’?

Answer 15

this involves learning to associate something of which we initially have no fear of (neutral stimulus) with something that already triggers a fear response (an unconditioned stimulus)

Question 16

what is an example of acquisition by classical conditioning (little albert study)?

Answer 16

• the noise is an unconditioned stimulus that creates an unconditioned response of fear
• when the rat, a neutral stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus (noise) are experienced together, the neutral stimulus is associated with the unconditioned stimulus (noise) and both now produce a fear response
• the rat now becomes a conditioned stimulus that produces a conditioned response of fear.

Question 17

what is the second part of the two-process model maintinence by operant conditioning?

Answer 17

• responses acquired by classical conditioning tend to decline over time, but phobias are often long lasting (due to operant conditioning).
• whenever we avoid a phobic stimulus we escape fear/anxiety, and this enforces the avoidant behaviour, so the phobia is maintained.

Question 18

AO3: how is real life application a strength to the two-process model?

Answer 18

the two process model has furthered our understandings of phobias. it explained how phobias could be maintained over time and this provided important knowledge for therapies because it explains why patients need to be exposed to the feared stimulus. once a patient is prevented from practicing their avoidance behaviour the behaviour ceases to be reinforced and so it declines

Question 19

AO3: how is the two process model is too simplistic a weakness to the two-process model?

Answer 19

it is too simplistic as it ignores the role of other factors such as our childhood experiences, everyday stressors and the role of biology (genes, neurotransmitters) in the development of phobias.

Question 20

AO3: how is ‘not all avoidance behaviour associated with phobias seems to be the result of anxiety reduction’ a weakness to the two process model?

Answer 20

there is evidence to suggest that some avoidance behaviour apprears to be motivated more by positive feelings of safety

Question 21

AO3: how is ‘there is more to acquiring phobias than simple conditioning’ a limitation to the two process model?

Answer 21

the two-process model is an incomplete explanation for phobias. Bounton (2007) points out that evolutionary factors probably have an important role. For example we easily acquire phobias of things that have been a source of danger in evolutionary terms (fears of snakes/dark). Seligman (1971) called this biological preparedness- the innate predisposition to acquire certain fears. however it is quite rare to develop a phobia of cars or guns, which are much more dangerous to us today than spiders or snakes. maybe because they have only existed until very recently so that we are no biologically prepared to learn far responses to them.

Question 22

what are the 2 parts of the behavioural approach to treating phobias?

Answer 22

systematic desensitisation
flooding

Question 23

what is systematic desensitisation?

Answer 23

it is a behavioural therapy designed to reduce an unwanted response such as anxiety, this involves drawing up a hierarchy of anxiety provoking situations related to a persons phobic stimulus, where the person is taught a selection of relaxation techniques to use before they are exposed to the different hierarchy’s of the phobic stimulus whist maintaining relaxation.

Question 24

how does systematic desensitisation use counterconditioning?

Answer 24

this is when the individual has to maintain the relaxation whist in the presence of the phobic stimulus as it is impossible to be afraid and relaxed at the same time (reciprocal inhibition)

Question 25

what are the 3 processes involved in systematic desensitisation?

Answer 25

anxiety hierarchy
relaxation
exposure

Question 26

what is the process ‘anxiety hierarchy’?

Answer 26

it is put together by the patient and therapist and it is a list of situations related to the phobia that provoke anxiety arranged in the order of least frightening to most frightening

Question 27

what is the process ‘relaxation’?

Answer 27

it is when the therapist teaches the patient to relax deeply (e.g. breathing exercises, learning mental imagery techniques, meditation, relax using drugs (valium)

Question 28

what is the process ‘exposure’?

Answer 28

it is when the patient is exposed to the phobic stimulus whilst relaxed

Question 29

how do you know when systematic desensitisation has worked?

Answer 29

the treatment is successful when the patient has made heir way through the anxiety hierarchy whilst being relaxed and that the most feared on the anxiety hierarchy the patient is able to stay relaxed whilst being in the presence of it?

Question 30

what is flooding?

Answer 30

it is a behavioural therapy where a person with a phobia is exposed to an extreme form of the phobic stimulus in order to reduce anxiety triggered by that stimulus, this takes place over a small number of longer therapy sessions

Question 31

how does flooding stop fear?

Answer 31

it stops fear quickly because without avoidance behaviour the patient quickly learns the phobic stimulus is harmless

Question 32

how can flooding be seen as slightly unethical?

Answer 32

it isn’t stated as unethical however it is unpleasant so patients must give fully informed consent

Question 33

AO3: how is ‘its effective with specific phobias’ a strength to systematic desensitisation?

Answer 33

Ailroys research supports this with spider phobias- 42 patients had systematic desensitisation, c.f. control group who had relaxation but no exposure. At 3 months and 33 months after treatment, the systematic desensitisation group was less fearful. this shows that systematic desensitisation helps with anxiety and is long lasting.

Question 34

AO3: how is ‘its acceptable to patients’ a strength to systematic desensitisation?

Answer 34

it doesn’t cause as much trauma as flooding and relaxation techniques aren’t quite as pleasant
this is supported by low refusal rates and low attrition rates (those dropping out)

Question 35

AO3: how is ‘it is cost effective’ a strength to flooding?

Answer 35

-it is at least cost effective as other treatments for specific phobias
-studies that compare flooding to cognitive therapies found its highly effective and quicker than alternative
-because patients are free of symptoms quicker, its cheaper

Question 36

AO3: how is ‘its less effective for some phobias’ a limitation to flooding?

Answer 36

e.g. social phobias
this is because social phobias have cognitive aspects (e.g. a social phobia sufferer doesn’t just experience anxiety, they also thing unpleasant thoughts)
such phobias can benefit from cognitive therapies instead as they tackle irrational thinking