Phobias

Question 1

How long do you have to have the phobia for to be diagnosed?

Answer 1

6 months

Question 2

2 checklists for mental health disorders?

Answer 2

DSM- American- 5th edition- have to pay for the book
ICD-11- made by WHO- free- used by the rest of the world

Question 3

What are all phobias categorised by?

Answer 3

Excessive fear and anxiety

Question 4

What are phobias triggered by?

Answer 4

An object, place or situation

Question 5

What is a specific phobia?

Answer 5

Phobia of an object, such as animal/body part
Or a situation such as having an injection

Question 6

Injury phobia?

Answer 6

Being injured/hurt

Question 7

Examples of situational phobias?

Answer 7

The dark

Question 8

Example of natural phobias?

Answer 8

Storms

Question 9

Social anxiety?

Answer 9

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

Question 10

Agoraphobia?

Answer 10

Phobia of being outside or in a public place

Question 11

Behaviour of having agoraphobia?

Answer 11

Housebound- do not leave the house unless absolutely necessary
Avoid public areas e.g. public transport to avoid crowding and the unknown
Need for companionship- they require someone trysted to be with

Question 12

Cognitive of agoraphobia?

Answer 12

Irrational- they don’t see reason when it comes to their phobia
Overwhelmed by anxiety

Question 13

Emotional aspects of agoraphobia?

Answer 13

May get upset as they feel like they are being embarrassing
May be easy to get a reaction out of
May lose control in public

Question 14

Behaviour of specific phobias: animals?

Answer 14

Removing yourself from the situation
Panicking
Emotional distress because you are afraid

Question 15

Cognitive aspects of specific phobia of animals?

Answer 15

Irrational thoughts such as thinking something bad will happen due to seeing the animal
Distortion bias- think its normal to have these thoughts when seeing the animal

Question 16

Emotional aspects of specific phobia: animals?

Answer 16

Frightened
Scared
Excessively anxious

Question 17

Behaviour of people with social anxiety?

Answer 17

Panic attacks
Crying
Self- conscious- fear of others
Worrying-scared to see others

Question 18

Cognitive aspects of people with social anxiety?

Answer 18

Worried about everyday activities
Find it difficult to do something when someone is watching
Worry about blushing, sweating, feeling incompetent

Question 19

Emotional aspects of people with social anxiety?

Answer 19

Sadness
Feeling sick
Depressed

Question 20

How does classical conditioning explain phobias acquisition?

Answer 20

The unpleasant emotion is associated with the stimulus so the 2 become associated with each other by conditioning

Question 21

How does operant conditioning explain phobia maintenance?

Answer 21

Phobias can be negatively reinforced where the behaviour is strengthened when the unpleasant stimulus is removed
E.g. if someone has a fear of dogs, when they are out walking, they may cross the road to remove the unpleasant stimulus (being in contact with the dog)

Question 22

2 ways to cure phobias?

Answer 22

Systematic desensitisation
Flooding

Question 23

What is VRET?

Answer 23

Virtual reality exposure treatment- mix of behaviourist and cognitive approach

Question 24

Strengths of VRET?

Answer 24

Gradual prolonged repeated experience in the VR world that we may not be able to get in real life

Question 25

What is systematic desensitisation?

Answer 25

A behavioural therapy designed to gradually reduce phobic anxiety through classical conditioning

Question 26

What is counterconditioning in systematic desensitisation?

Answer 26

A new response to the phobic stimulus is learned Phobic stimulus is paired with relaxation instead of anxiety

Question 27

What is reciprocal inhibition?

Answer 27

It is impossible to be relaxed and anxious at the same time so one emotion inhibits the other

Question 28

What 3 things are involved in SD?

Answer 28

Relaxation techniques The anxiety hierachy Exposure- in vitro and in vivo

Question 29

What does vitro mean?

Answer 29

Not real

Question 30

What does vivo mean?

Answer 30

Real

Question 31

What does flooding hope to teach the patient?

Answer 31

Help individuals confront their fear directly - aims to expose the sufferer to the phobic object in a safe and controlled environment

Question 32

What is meant by extinction in terms of flooding?

Answer 32

Removing a learnt behaviour by removing the previous reinforcement Removes the negative association between the phobic stimulus and yourself- therefore the phobia will be extinguished

Question 33

What happens when someone is too exhausted to be afraid?

Answer 33

The anxiety level decreases

Question 34

What ethical issues are there with flooding

Answer 34

Can be dangerous Not an appropriate treatment for every phobia

Question 35

Similarities of SD and flooding?

Answer 35

They both use vivo scenarios Both break association Both are based on pavlov’s theory Both are forms of exposure therapy

Question 36

Differences between SD and flooding?

Answer 36

SD is very gradual- flooding is all at once SD can be relaxing/less overwhelming- flooding is very overwhelming SD takes longer (12 weeks) whereas flooding can only take a few hours

Question 37

What is the two-process model?

Answer 37

Phobias are acquired by classical conditioning and then continue because of operant conditioning

Question 38

Strength of two process model? (Real world application)

Answer 38

Real-world application in exposure therapies e.g. systematic desensitisation

Question 39

One limitation of the 2 process model? (Cognitive aspect)

Answer 39

Does not account for the cognitive aspects of phobias Therefore does not completely explain the symptoms of phobias

Question 40

Strength of the 2 process model ( evidence for a link between bad experiences and phobias)

Answer 40

Little Albert- the association between the stimulus and the unconditioned response leads to the development of the phobia

Question 41

Limitations of 2 process model?

Answer 41

Not all phobias appear folllowing a bad experience E.g. common phobias like snake phobias occur in populations where very few people have any experience of snakes let alone traumatic experiences Also, not all frightening experiences lead to phobias Therefore this means that the association between phobias and frightening experiences is not as strong as we would expect if behavioural theories provided a complete explanation

Question 42

What is biological preparedness?

Answer 42

Seligman (1970) said that humans are genetically programmed to learn associations between life-threatening stimuli and fear These fears are known as “ancient fears”- things that would have been dangerous in our past e.g. snakes, heights etc