Phobias Flashcards
How long do you have to have the phobia for to be diagnosed?
6 months
2 checklists for mental health disorders?
DSM- American- 5th edition- have to pay for the book
ICD-11- made by WHO- free- used by the rest of the world
What are all phobias categorised by?
Excessive fear and anxiety
What are phobias triggered by?
An object, place or situation
What is a specific phobia?
Phobia of an object, such as animal/body part
Or a situation such as having an injection
Injury phobia?
Being injured/hurt
Examples of situational phobias?
The dark
Example of natural phobias?
Storms
Social anxiety?
Phobia of a social situation such as a public speaking or using a public toilet
Agoraphobia?
Phobia of being outside or in a public place
Behaviour of having agoraphobia?
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
Cognitive of agoraphobia?
Irrational- they don’t see reason when it comes to their phobia
Overwhelmed by anxiety
Emotional aspects of agoraphobia?
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
Behaviour of specific phobias: animals?
Removing yourself from the situation
Panicking
Emotional distress because you are afraid
Cognitive aspects of specific phobia of animals?
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
Emotional aspects of specific phobia: animals?
Frightened
Scared
Excessively anxious
Behaviour of people with social anxiety?
Panic attacks
Crying
Self- conscious- fear of others
Worrying-scared to see others
Cognitive aspects of people with social anxiety?
Worried about everyday activities
Find it difficult to do something when someone is watching
Worry about blushing, sweating, feeling incompetent
Emotional aspects of people with social anxiety?
Sadness
Feeling sick
Depressed
How does classical conditioning explain phobias acquisition?
The unpleasant emotion is associated with the stimulus so the 2 become associated with each other by conditioning
How does operant conditioning explain phobia maintenance?
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)
2 ways to cure phobias?
Systematic desensitisation
Flooding
What is VRET?
Virtual reality exposure treatment- mix of behaviourist and cognitive approach
Strengths of VRET?
Gradual prolonged repeated experience in the VR world that we may not be able to get in real life
What is systematic desensitisation?
A behavioural therapy designed to gradually reduce phobic anxiety through classical conditioning
What is counterconditioning in systematic desensitisation?
A new response to the phobic stimulus is learned
Phobic stimulus is paired with relaxation instead of anxiety
What is reciprocal inhibition?
It is impossible to be relaxed and anxious at the same time so one emotion inhibits the other
What 3 things are involved in SD?
Relaxation techniques
The anxiety hierachy
Exposure- in vitro and in vivo
What does vitro mean?
Not real
What does vivo mean?
Real
What does flooding hope to teach the patient?
Help individuals confront their fear directly - aims to expose the sufferer to the phobic object in a safe and controlled environment
What is meant by extinction in terms of flooding?
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
What happens when someone is too exhausted to be afraid?
The anxiety level decreases
What ethical issues are there with flooding
Can be dangerous
Not an appropriate treatment for every phobia
Similarities of SD and flooding?
They both use vivo scenarios
Both break association
Both are based on pavlov’s theory
Both are forms of exposure therapy
Differences between SD and flooding?
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
What is the two-process model?
Phobias are acquired by classical conditioning and then continue because of operant conditioning
Strength of two process model? (Real world application)
Real-world application in exposure therapies e.g. systematic desensitisation
One limitation of the 2 process model? (Cognitive aspect)
Does not account for the cognitive aspects of phobias
Therefore does not completely explain the symptoms of phobias
Strength of the 2 process model ( evidence for a link between bad experiences and phobias)
Little Albert- the association between the stimulus and the unconditioned response leads to the development of the phobia
Limitations of 2 process model?
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
What is biological preparedness?
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
