phobias

Question 1

what is a phobia? (2)

Answer 1

● a persistent anxiety disorder which interferes with daily living

● a fear becomes a phobia when it negatively impacts on a person’s everyday life

Question 2

describe the behavioural symptoms of a phobia (the way people act) (2)

Answer 2

● panic: often people will scream, cry or run away from phobic stimulus

● avoidance: considerable effort to prevent contact with phobic stimulus can make it hard to go about everyday life

Question 3

describe the emotional symptoms of a phobia (way people feel) (2)

Answer 3

● anxiety: an unpleasant state of high arousal, prevents individual from relaxing and makes it very difficult to experience positive emotion

● fear: immediate and extremely unpleasant response we experience when we think or actually encounter the phobic stimulus

Question 4

describe the cognitive symptoms of a phobia (way people think) (3)

Answer 4

● irrational beliefs: in relation to phobic stimuli

● selective attention: if person sees phobic stimulus, it can be hard to look away from, they are unable to concentrate on anything else

● cognitive distortions: perception may be distorted e.g spider may be viewed a lot bigger than it actually is