phobias

Question 1

what is the DSM-5 classification of phobias?

Answer 1

phobias are classified by excessive fear and anxiety triggered by a object, place or situation, the fear is out of proportion to any real danger caused by the stimulus

Question 2

what are specific phobias?

Answer 2

when a phobia is specific to a object or situation

Question 3

what is social anxiety?

Answer 3

phobia of social situations

Question 4

what is agoraphobia?

Answer 4

fear of being outside or being in public spaces

Question 5

what are the behavioural characteristics?

Answer 5

panic, avoidance, endurance

Question 6

give examples of panicked behaviour

Answer 6

crying, screaming, running away, freezing, clinging, tantrum

Question 7

give examples of avoidant behaviour

Answer 7

avoiding contact with stimulus making it hard to live a normal life

Question 8

give a example of endurance as a behaviour

Answer 8

a person remains in the presence of the stimulus but experiences high levels of anxiety

Question 9

what are the emotional characteristics?

Answer 9

anxiety that is irrational to the stimulus

Question 10

what are the cognitive characteristics?

Answer 10

selective attention to the stimulus, irrational beliefs, cognitive distortion

Question 11

what are irrational belief s and what are their effects?

Answer 11

a persons beliefs in response to the stimulus are unreasonable and increase the pressure on the suffers to preform a behaviour

Question 12

what is cognitive distortion?

Answer 12

when a persons perception of a stimulus is distorted

Question 13

what behavioural explanation for phobias does Mowrer propose?

Answer 13

the two-process model, where phobias are learnt through classical conditioning and continue due to operant conditioning

Question 14

who conducted the little Albert experiment?

Answer 14

Watson and Rayner

Question 15

what was the control in the little Albert experiment?

Answer 15

at the start of the experiment at 9 months old Albert showed no unusual anxiety

Question 16

what was the procedure of the little Albert experiment?

Answer 16

a white rat was shown to Albert and when it was shown a iron bar was banged behind Albert ear

Question 17

what were the findings of the little Albert experiment?

Answer 17

Albert developed a phobia of the white rat but also to other things such as small furry animals, fur coats, a santa clause beard, cotton balls

Question 18

how does negative reinforcement work to reinforce a phobia?

Answer 18

the desirable consequence due to the reduction in anxiety when moving away from the phobia making it more likely to be repeated

Question 19

what are the strengths of the two-process explanation?

Answer 19

it explains why phobias are maintained

important in therapy to stop reinforcement so as to cause a extinction of a phobia

Question 20

what are the weaknesses of the two process-explanation?

Answer 20

alternative explanation for avoidance- not motivated by anxiety but instead feelings of safety

Question 21

what does Bouton suggest evolutionary factors contribute to phobia and what does it support?

Answer 21

he suggests it has a important role in phobias due to biological preparedness where we have a innate disposition to acquire fears
phobias are not normally due to trauma
doesn’t explain cognitive factors
doesn’t include the SLT explanation for learning phobias

Question 22

what is systematic desensitisation?

Answer 22

a behavioural therapy that gradually reduces phobia anxiety thought he use of classical conditioning, where a new response is learned to a stimulus thus counterconditioning and reciprocally inhibiting the phobia

Question 23

what are the three processes of systematic desensitisation?

Answer 23

1) the anxiety hierarchy is identified
2) relaxation techniques are taught to the patient using breathing exercises, drugs, and mediation
3) the patient is exposed to the phobia stimulus whilst in a relaxed state starting at the anxiety hierarchy

Question 24

what are the strengths of systematic desensitisation?

Answer 24

it can be generalised to people with learning disabilities who may not be able to withstand flooding or CBT
less traumatic the flooding due to its use of relaxation so has a lower refusal and drop out rate

Question 25

what is the supporting evidence for systematic desensitisation?

Answer 25

Gilroy et al followed up 43 patients which were treated for arachnophobia who had 3 45min sessions of systematic desensitisation and assessed for levels of phobias using questionnaires, the control group was just taught relaxation, they found at both 3 and 33 months the treated group were less fearful

Question 26

what is a weakness of both systematic desensitisation and flooding?

Answer 26

phobia substitution

Question 27

what is flooding?

Answer 27

the immediate expose to a very frightening situation for a long period of time, stoping the phobic response quickly by stopping avoidance helping the patient to realise the stimulus is harmless therefore causing the extinction of behaviour

Question 28

what are the ethical safe guards used in flooding?

Answer 28

fully informed consent
right to withdraw
given the option of systematic desensitisation

Question 29

what are the strengths of flooding?

Answer 29

quicker and cost-effective

Question 30

what are the weaknesses of flooding?

Answer 30

less effective for some types of phobias which are more complex (social anxiety)
traumatic, high refusal and attrition rate