Phobias

Question 1

what is a phobia

Answer 1

categorised an an anxiety disorder which causes an irrational fear of a particular object or situation

Question 2

Specific phobia

Answer 2

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

Question 3

social phobia

Answer 3

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

Question 4

agoraphobia

Answer 4

phobia of being outside or in a public space

Question 5

behavioural characteristics

Answer 5

Panic – a person with a phobia may panic is response to the presence of the phobic stimulus. Panic may involve a range of behaviours such as crying, screaming or freezing and having a tantrum in children

Avoidance – a person will go to a lot of effort to avoid coming into contact with the phobic stimulus, making it hard to go about daily life.

Question 6

emotional characteristics

Answer 6

Extreme anxiety – phobias involve emotional response of anxiety, an unpleasant state of high arousal preventing a person from relaxing

Extreme fear – the immediate and extremely unpleasant response we experience when we encounter or think about the phobic stimulus.

Question 7

cognitive characteristics

Answer 7

Selective attention to the phobic stimulus – if a person can see the phobic stimulus it is hard to look away from it, making it difficult to concentrate on other things

Irrational beliefs – unfounded thoughts in relation to phobic stimuli. I.e. that can’t easily be explained and don’t have any basis in reality.

Cognitive distortions – the perceptions of a person with a phobia may be inaccurate and unrealistic