Phobias

Question 1

What are the DSM-5 categories of phobia

Answer 1

• specific phobia (self explanatory)
• social anxiety
• agoraphobia (phobia of being outside or in a public space)

Question 2

What are the behavioural characteristics of phobias

Answer 2

• panic (crying, screaming, running awa, for a child; freezing, clinging, tantrum)
• avoidance
• endurance

Question 3

What are the emotional characteristics of phobias

Answer 3

• anxiety (fear is immediate)

Question 4

Why are emotional responses unreasonable

Answer 4

• because the emotional response we have towards a phobic stimulus goes beyond what is reasonable, the phobic stimulus cannot harm us so it is abnormal to fear it

Question 5

What are the cognitive characteristics of phobias

Answer 5

• selective attention to the phobic stimulus
• irrational beliefs
• cognitive distortions