Phobias Flashcards
Define Anxiety
A state of physiological arousal associated with feelings of apprehension, unease or worry that something is wrong or something unpleasant is about to happen.
Define Anxiety Disorder
A group of disorders that are characterised by chronic feelings of anxiety, distress, nervousness and apprehension or fear about the future - all with a negative effect.
Define Phobias
Excessive or unreasonable fear directed towards a particular object, situation or event that causes significant distress or interference with everyday functioning.
Define Specific Phobia
A disorder characterised by significant anxiety provoked by exposure to a specific fear, object or situation, often resulting in avoidance behaviour.
What are the 5 categories of Specific Phobias?
- Animals (birds, dogs, snakes, fish)
- Situations (lifts, flying, tunnels, bridges)
- Blood, injections and/or injury (seeing it, getting one)
- Natural environments (thunder, the dark, water)
- Other (choking, vomiting , loud noises, clowns, dying)
What happens when an individual is exposed to a phobic stimulus?
It triggers an involuntary anxiety response that is like a stress response (fight/flight physiological changes).
How long must a specific disorder last to be considered a phobia/disorder?
According to the DSM, a specific disorder must persist for at least 6 months and significantly interfere with their everyday life.
Define Behavioural Model
Proposes that phobias are learned through experience and may be acquired, maintained or modified by environmental consequences such as reward and punishment.
Give an example of how a phobia can be adopted through Classical Conditioning
UCS + CS = CR
Bitten by dog Dog Fear of dogs
Explain how a phobia can be maintained or increased through Operant Conditioning
Response —> Consequence = Behvaiour
Avoidance of fear Fear reduced Maintained/increased
Define Cognitive Model
Focuses on how people process information and how people think about the phobic stimulus and related events.
What are the 4 types of Cognitive Bias?
- Attentional bias
- Memory bias
- Interpretive bias
- Catastrophic thinking
Define Attentional Bias
Seeks out and notices threatening stimuli over normal stimuli - hyper vigilant.
Define Memory Bias
Recall or recognition is better for negative or threatening information than for positive or neutral information.
Define Interpretive Bias
The tendency to interpret or judge ambiguous situations in a threatening manner.
Define Catastrophic Thinking
A type of negative thinking in which an object or event is perceived as being far more threatening, dangerous or sufferable than it really is and will result in the worst outcome.
What are the 3 Socio-Cultural Factors>
- Specific environmental triggers
- Parental modelling
- Transmission of threat information
Define Specific Environmental Triggers
Include ‘specific’ objects or situations in the ‘environment’ produce or ‘trigger’ an extreme fear response at the time. The more severe the trauma, the more likely it is that a phobia will develop.
Define Parental Modelling
A specific phobia can be developed through the observation and subsequent modelling of another person’s fearful behaviour. A physical display of a fear response.
Define Transmission of Threat Information
Delivery of information from any secondary source, such as the media or other people.
What is the method used to treat and manage phobias?
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Define Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Combining cognitive and behavioural therapies together to help people manage a mental health problem/disorder. Changing thoughts and behaviours about a fear stimulus.
What is the aim of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy?
- Develop a new understanding of the phobic stimulus
- Identify anxiety related thoughts and cognitive biases
- Look at evidence that supports/rejects these biases
- Switch from unhelpful irrational thoughts to evidence based rational thoughts
