Phobias Flashcards
2 Behavioural characteristics of Phobias
Avoidance
Panic
2 Emotional characteristics of phobias
Excessive and unreasonable fear
anxiety
2 Cognitive characteristics of Phobias
Selective attention (endurance)
Cognitive distortions
What is the two process model
phobias are made through classical conditioning and maintained through operant conditioning (negative reinforcement) by avoidance
What is systematic desensitisation
-takes advantage of the principles of counter conditioning
-client constructs a fear hierarchy, ranking stimuli from least to most terrifying
-they then learn a relaxation technique like a breathing method
-they use the technique at the same time they’re exposed to the stimulus and relaxation prevails over fear (reciprocal inhibition)
What is flooding
Bombarded by phobic stimuli
What is reciprocal inhibition
Two emotional states cannot exist at once and one prevails
How many sessions does Systematic desensitisation take
7
How many sessions does Flooding take
1
What is in vitro and in vivo
In vitro: handling an imagined phobic stimulus
In vivo: handing a real phobic stimulus
How many patients did McGrath find to be successfully treated after Systematic desensitisation
75%
What’s good about Flooding
Cost effective
What’s good about Systematic desensitisation
Evidence (McGrath) 75% recovered from phobia after systematic desensitisation
What’s a limitation of both methods of treating phobias
They’re ineffective at treating evolutionary phobias such as snakes
