Phobias

Question 1

Define Anxiety

Answer 1

A state of physiological arousal associated with feelings of apprehension, unease or worry that something is wrong or something unpleasant is about to happen.

Question 2

Define Anxiety Disorder

Answer 2

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.

Question 3

Define Phobias

Answer 3

Excessive or unreasonable fear directed towards a particular object, situation or event that causes significant distress or interference with everyday functioning.

Question 4

Define Specific Phobia

Answer 4

A disorder characterised by significant anxiety provoked by exposure to a specific fear, object or situation, often resulting in avoidance behaviour.

Question 5

What are the 5 categories of Specific Phobias?

Answer 5

• 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)

Question 6

What happens when an individual is exposed to a phobic stimulus?

Answer 6

It triggers an involuntary anxiety response that is like a stress response (fight/flight physiological changes).

Question 7

How long must a specific disorder last to be considered a phobia/disorder?

Answer 7

According to the DSM, a specific disorder must persist for at least 6 months and significantly interfere with their everyday life.

Question 8

Define Behavioural Model

Answer 8

Proposes that phobias are learned through experience and may be acquired, maintained or modified by environmental consequences such as reward and punishment.

Question 9

Give an example of how a phobia can be adopted through Classical Conditioning

Answer 9

UCS + CS = CR

Bitten by dog Dog Fear of dogs

Question 10

Explain how a phobia can be maintained or increased through Operant Conditioning

Answer 10

Response —> Consequence = Behvaiour

Avoidance of fear Fear reduced Maintained/increased

Question 11

Define Cognitive Model

Answer 11

Focuses on how people process information and how people think about the phobic stimulus and related events.

Question 12

What are the 4 types of Cognitive Bias?

Answer 12

• Attentional bias
• Memory bias
• Interpretive bias
• Catastrophic thinking

Question 13

Define Attentional Bias

Answer 13

Seeks out and notices threatening stimuli over normal stimuli - hyper vigilant.

Question 14

Define Memory Bias

Answer 14

Recall or recognition is better for negative or threatening information than for positive or neutral information.

Question 15

Define Interpretive Bias

Answer 15

The tendency to interpret or judge ambiguous situations in a threatening manner.

Question 16

Define Catastrophic Thinking

Answer 16

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.

Question 17

What are the 3 Socio-Cultural Factors>

Answer 17

• Specific environmental triggers
• Parental modelling
• Transmission of threat information

Question 18

Define Specific Environmental Triggers

Answer 18

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.

Question 19

Define Parental Modelling

Answer 19

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.

Question 20

Define Transmission of Threat Information

Answer 20

Delivery of information from any secondary source, such as the media or other people.

Question 21

What is the method used to treat and manage phobias?

Answer 21

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Question 22

Define Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Answer 22

Combining cognitive and behavioural therapies together to help people manage a mental health problem/disorder. Changing thoughts and behaviours about a fear stimulus.

Question 23

What is the aim of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy?

Answer 23

• 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