Phobias

Question 1

What is a phobia?

Answer 1

Phobias are classified as an anxiety disorder. They are characterised by excessive fear and anxiety, triggered by an object, place or situation. The extent of the fear is out of proportion to any real danger presented by the phobic stimulus.
A person with a phobia either tries to avoid the thing that triggers the fear, or endures it with great anxiety and distress.
Phobias are one of the most common mental disorders. In the UK, an estimated 10 million people have a phobia.

Question 2

What are the 3 categories of a phobia?

Answer 2

Specific phobia
Social phobia
Agoraphobia

Question 3

What is a specific phobia?

Answer 3

phobia of an object, such as an animal or a body part, or a situation, such as flying or having an injection

Question 4

What is a social phobia?

Answer 4

phobia of a social situation, such as public speaking or using a public toilet

Question 5

What is agoraphobia?

Answer 5

phobia of being outside or in a public place

Question 6

What are the 3 behavioural characteristics for phobia?

Answer 6

Panic
Avoidance
Endurance

Question 7

What is the behavioural characteristic panic?

Answer 7

A person with a phobia may panic in response to the presence of the phobic stimulus.
Panic may involve a range of behaviours including crying, screaming or running away.

Question 8

What is the behavioural characteristic avoidance?

Answer 8

Unless the person is making a conscious effort to face their fear, they tend to go to a lot of effort to prevent coming into contact with the phobic stimulus. This can make it hard to go about daily life.

Question 9

What is the behavioural characteristic endurance?

Answer 9

The alternative behavioural response to avoidance is endurance.
This occurs when the person chooses to remain in the presence of the phobic stimulus.

Question 10

What are the 3 emotional characteristics for phobias?

Answer 10

Anxiety
Fear
Emotional response is unreasonable

Question 11

What is the emotional characteristic anxiety?

Answer 11

Phobias are classified as anxiety disorders. By definition, they involve an emotional response of anxiety, which is an unpleasant state of high arousal. Anxiety can be long-term.

Question 12

What is the emotional characteristic fear?

Answer 12

Fear is the immediate and extremely unpleasant response we experience when we encounter or think about a phobic stimulus. It is usually more intense but experienced for shorter periods than anxiety.

Question 13

What is the emotional characteristic Emotional response is unreasonable?

Answer 13

The anxiety or fear is much greater than is ‘normal’ and is disproportionate to any threat posed.

Question 14

What are the cognitive characteristics for phobias?

Answer 14

Selective attention
Irrational beliefs
Cognitive distortions

Question 15

What is the cognitive characteristic selective attention?

Answer 15

If a person with a phobia is presented with an object or situation they fear, they will find it difficult to direct their attention elsewhere. As a result, they will find it hard to focus on anything else.

Question 16

What is the cognitive characteristic irrational beliefs?

Answer 16

A person with a phobia may hold unfounded thoughts in relation to phobic stimuli, i.e. that can’t be easily explained and don’t have any basis in reality.
For example, someone with arachnophobia believing all spiders are poisonous.

Question 17

What is the cognitive characteristic cognitive distortion?

Answer 17

The perceptions of a person with a phobia may be inaccurate and unrealistic.
For example, someone with mycophobia sees mushrooms as disgusting, and an ophidiophobe may see snakes as alien and aggressive-looking.