Phobias Flashcards
What is a phobia?
A phobia is an example of an anxiety disorder - it is an extreme, irrational fear of a particular object or situation.
What are the types of phobias classified by the DSM?
- Specific phobias: fear of specific objects or situations, there are five subtypes.
- Animal type, e.g. arachnophobia,
- Environmental dangers type, e.g. hydrophobia,
- Blood-injection-injury type, e.g. fear of needles,
- Situational type, e.g. claustrophobia
- ‘Other’ (any phobia not covered in the above categories), - Agoraphobia, the fear of open spaces, using public transport, being in an enclosed space, or not being at home,
- Social anxiety disorder (social phobia), usually the fear of being in social situations.
What are the cognitive symptoms of phobias?
- Irrational beliefs about the stimulus that causes the fear,
- People often find it difficult to concentrate because they are preoccupied by anxious thoughts.
What are the behavioural symptoms of phobias?
- Avoiding social situations because they cause anxiety, happens especially if someone has either agoraphobia or social anxiety disorder,
- Altering behaviour to avoid the feared object/situation, and trying to escape if it is encountered,
- Often generally restless and easily startled.
What are the physical symptoms of phobias?
- Activation of the fight or flight response when the feared object or situation is encountered or thought about,
- Involves the release of adrenaline, increased heart-rate and breathing, and muscle tension.
What are the emotional symptoms of phobias?
- Anxiety and a feeling of dread.
What does the DSM require to classify a fear as a phobia?
One of the following criteria:
1. There is significant prolonged fear of an object or situation which lasts more than six months,
2. People experience an anxiety response (e.g. increased heart rate) if they are exposed to the phobic stimulus,
3. Phobias are out of proportion to any actual danger,
4. Sufferers go out of their way to avoid the phobic stimulus,
5. The phobia disrupts their lives.
How do behaviourists argue phobias are learnt?
The same way all behaviours are learnt - through classical and operant conditioning.
What is classical conditioning? and how does it apply to phobias?
- In classical conditioning a natural reflex is produced in response to a previously neutral stimulus. Phobias can be created when the natural fear response becomes associated with a particular stimulus,
- A certain unconditioned stimulus, e.g. a loud noise, triggers an unconditioned response, e.g. fear,
- An unconditioned stimulus, e.g. loud noise, is presented, repeatedly, with another unconditioned
stimulus, e.g. a white rat, triggering, again, an unconditioned response, e.g. fear,
- Over time the second unconditioned stimulus becomes conditioned with the, now, conditioned
response, e.g. a white rat triggers fear, - Phobias can generalise to similar stimuli. For example, Watson and Rayner (1920) conditioned a phobia in Little Albert. Albert’s following phobia of white rats was generalised to white fluffy objects.
What is operant conditioning? and how does it apply to phobias?
- Operant conditioning is learning from the consequences of actions. Actions which have a good outcome through positive reinforcement or negative reinforcement will be repeated. Actions which have a bad outcome, e.g. punishment, will not be repeated,
- Operant conditioning is important in maintaining phobias; people get anxious around the phobic stimulus and avoid it - preventing the anxiety, and acting as negative reinforcement.
Who proposed the two-process model? and what is it?
Mowrer’s (1947) two-process model explains how classical and operant conditioning produce and maintain phobias.
Strengths of the behavioural explanation of phobias
- Research support - Barlow and Durand (1995) showed that in cases of individuals with a severe fear of driving, 50% of them had actually been involved in a road accident. Through classical conditioning, the road accident, an unconditioned stimulus, had turned into a conditioned stimulus for those now with the phobia,
- Real-life application - behavioural therapies are very effective at treating phobias by getting the person to change their response to the stimulus; suggest that they cure the cause of the problem.
Weaknesses of the behavioural explanation of phobias
- Davey (1992) found that only 7% of arachnophobes recalled ever having a traumatic experience with a spider, implying no conditioning; for these individuals there would be no unconditioned stimulus, e.g. a spider, in a memory to be conditioned,
- Suggest that there could be other explanations, e.g. biological factors.
What is systematic desensitisation?
A behavioural therapy for phobias involving the counter-conditioning of phobic stimuli.
What is the procedure of systematic desensitisation?
- The patient, firstly, makes a ‘fear hierarchy’; a list of feared events, showing what they fear least through to their most feared event,
- They are then taught relaxation techniques like deep breathing,
- The patient then imagines/experiences the anxiety-provoking situations, starting with the least stressful. They are encouraged to use the relaxation techniques, and the process stops if they feel anxious,
- Relaxation and anxiety can’t happen at the same time, so when they become relaxed and calm, they are no longer scared. This is repeated until the feared event is only linked with relaxation,
- This whole process is repeated for each stage of the fear hierarchy, until they are calm through their most feared event.
