Phobias Flashcards
What is a phobia?
Phobias are a type of anxiety disorder that are characterised by uncontrollable, extreme, irrational and enduring fears. Phobias induce anxiety levels that are out of proportion to any actual risk. The fear experienced leads to avoidance of the feared object and this is disruptive to everyday life.
Roughly, how many people suffer from a phobia at some point in their life?
About 10%, however this figure is unlikely to be accurate as many do not report their problem and attempt to deal with it themselves
What are the emotional characteristics of phobias?
Anxiety and fear
What are the cognitive characteristics of phobias?
Irrational beliefs, cognitive distortions, selective attention
What are the behavioural characteristics of phobias?
Avoidance and panic
How are phobias acquired according to the two-process model?
Through classical conditioning
How are phobias classically conditioned in the two-process model?
An unconditioned fear response is associated with a stimulus which should be neutral, but has become a conditioned stimulus through being paired with a ‘threatening’ stimulus. After this pairing, the conditioned stimulus produces a fear response (conditioned response) in its own right (in the absence of the unconditioned stimulus)
Who did Watson and Raynor demonstrate the two-process model with?
Little Albert
How was the two-process model used with Little Albert?
A tame white rat (NS) was paired with a sudden loud noise (UCS). The noise caused Little Albert to experience fear (UCR) and after repeated pairings, this fear became associated with the rat (now the CS).
Little Albert’s fear extended to other white fluffy animals. This is called stimulus generalisation
In the two-process model, how is the fear maintained?
With operant conditioning, avoidance behaviours lead to a reduction in unpleasant feelings and this negatively reinforces the phobia. These avoidance responses make phobias very resistant to extinction.
What are 3 evaluation points for behavioural explanations of phobias?
- Research support
- Alternative explanations
- Successful therapies
What is systematic desensitisation (SD)?
Systematic desensitisation (SD) involves teaching the client deep muscle relaxation. The client and therapist then work together to design a hierarchy of frightening encounters with their feared stimulus. At the bottom of this hierarchy is the least feared situation, eg. Saying the word ‘spider’ and at the top is the most terrifying situation they could imagine being in eg. Having a spider crawl across their hand. Deep muscle relaxation must be mastered at each stage before moving up to the next
What is evidence to support SD?
Land (1963) used SD with college students who all had a snake phobia. They underwent 11 sessions to work through a hierarchy. Hypnosis was used to assist in the maintenance of relaxation. Fear ratings fell and improvements were still evident 6 months later.
Rothbaum (2000) used SD with participants who were afraid of flying. Following treatment 93% agreed to take a trial flight. It was found that anxiety levels were lower than those of a control group who had not received SD and this improvement was maintained when they were followed up 6 months later.
What are the benefits of SD?
SD is gradual and the pace of the therapy can be controlled by the patient themselves. Being able to control the intensity of their treatment and the exposure to distress is more ethical than alternative treatments like flooding that are much more traumatic. At each stage the client is consenting to the next level of exposure and this is less likely to cause psychological harm.
What are limitations of SD?
- It’s time consuming
- Likely to be very expensive
- The treatment takes place in a clinical setting and the progress made may not generalise to ‘real-world’ experiences where the therapist is not there to support their client
- Only treats the observable and measurable symptoms of a phobia
