phobias Flashcards
what is the DSM-5 classification of phobias?
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
what are specific phobias?
when a phobia is specific to a object or situation
what is social anxiety?
phobia of social situations
what is agoraphobia?
fear of being outside or being in public spaces
what are the behavioural characteristics?
panic, avoidance, endurance
give examples of panicked behaviour
crying, screaming, running away, freezing, clinging, tantrum
give examples of avoidant behaviour
avoiding contact with stimulus making it hard to live a normal life
give a example of endurance as a behaviour
a person remains in the presence of the stimulus but experiences high levels of anxiety
what are the emotional characteristics?
anxiety that is irrational to the stimulus
what are the cognitive characteristics?
selective attention to the stimulus, irrational beliefs, cognitive distortion
what are irrational belief s and what are their effects?
a persons beliefs in response to the stimulus are unreasonable and increase the pressure on the suffers to preform a behaviour
what is cognitive distortion?
when a persons perception of a stimulus is distorted
what behavioural explanation for phobias does Mowrer propose?
the two-process model, where phobias are learnt through classical conditioning and continue due to operant conditioning
who conducted the little Albert experiment?
Watson and Rayner
what was the control in the little Albert experiment?
at the start of the experiment at 9 months old Albert showed no unusual anxiety
what was the procedure of the little Albert experiment?
a white rat was shown to Albert and when it was shown a iron bar was banged behind Albert ear
what were the findings of the little Albert experiment?
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
how does negative reinforcement work to reinforce a phobia?
the desirable consequence due to the reduction in anxiety when moving away from the phobia making it more likely to be repeated
what are the strengths of the two-process explanation?
it explains why phobias are maintained
important in therapy to stop reinforcement so as to cause a extinction of a phobia
what are the weaknesses of the two process-explanation?
alternative explanation for avoidance- not motivated by anxiety but instead feelings of safety
what does Bouton suggest evolutionary factors contribute to phobia and what does it support?
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
what is systematic desensitisation?
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
what are the three processes of systematic desensitisation?
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
what are the strengths of systematic desensitisation?
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
what is the supporting evidence for systematic desensitisation?
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
what is a weakness of both systematic desensitisation and flooding?
phobia substitution
what is flooding?
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
what are the ethical safe guards used in flooding?
fully informed consent
right to withdraw
given the option of systematic desensitisation
what are the strengths of flooding?
quicker and cost-effective
what are the weaknesses of flooding?
less effective for some types of phobias which are more complex (social anxiety)
traumatic, high refusal and attrition rate
