Phobias

Question 1

What is a phobia?

Answer 1

• An irrational fear of an object or situation

Question 2

What is behavioural?

Answer 2

• Ways in which people act

Question 3

What is emotional?

Answer 3

• Related to a persons feeling or mood

Question 4

What is cognitive?

Answer 4

• Refers to the process of knowing including thinking ,reasoning ,remembering and believing

Question 5

Explain DSM-5 categories of phobia?

Answer 5

• All fears are by excessive fear and anxiety. Triggered by an object or situation.
• The latest version of DSM recognises phobia and anxiety disorder
• Specific phobia - phobia of an object (animal or body part or a situation)
• Social anxiety phobia of a social situation such as public speaking
• Agoraphobia - Phobias of being outside in a public space

Question 6

Explain behavioural characteristics of phobias?

Answer 6

• We respond to things or situations we fear by behaving in particular ways. We get high levels of anxiety and try to escape.
• Person with phobia may panic in response to the presence of phobic stimulus.
• Panic involves crying ,screaming or running away.
• Children act differently by throwing a tantrum
• Alternate behaviour to avoidance is endurance. When the stay in the presence of the phobia, For example, remaining watching the spider than leaving.

Question 7

Evaluate emotional characteristics of phobias?

Answer 7

• Phobias are anxiety disorders. They require an emotional response of anxiety.
• This prevents a person relaxing and make difficult to express positiveness
• Fear is the immediate and unpleasant response we encounter when we think about phobic stimulus but shorter periods than anxiety

Question 8

Evaluate cognitive characteristics of phobias?

Answer 8

• Cognitive element is concerned with how people process information and how they view it with other objects or situations.
• ## If a person sees a phobic stimulus it is hard to look away. Keeping our attention on something dangerous is a good thing as it gives us our best choice of reacting to a threat. A person with irrational fear is not useful.

Question 9

Evaluate irrational beliefs and cognitive distortions?

Answer 9

• Phobia may hold unfolded thoughts in relation to phobic stimuli.
• Phobias can hold beliefs like ‘I must always sound intelligent’
• This makes people perform well in situations