phobias Flashcards
marked fear/anxiety confided to specific object or situation =
specific phobias
why does a phobic develop avoidance strategies?
to minimise possibility of contact with that phobia trigger of extreme fear and panic
what are phobics normally aware of?
that their fear is excessive and unreasonable
info on why they think their phobia is threatening and how they react when in the phobic situation =
phobic beliefs
what do phobias trigger?
the automatic fight-flight response
what are the 5 sub groups?
animals, natural environment, blood-injection-injury, situational, other
what is the diagnosis for having a phobia?
increased autonomic arousal, physiological response (increased HR, palpitations, sweaty)
list the 5 different theories/accounts to explain phobias
psychoanalytic, classical conditioning, biological, cognitive, multiple pathways
defence against anxiety produced by repressed id impulses and this fear becomes associated with external things that have symbolic relevance to the id impulse =
Freud’s psychoanalytic account
while there is little evidence to support psychoanalytic accounts how does it still provide an important insight?
many anxiety disorders may function as a way of avoiding confrontation with the real underlying issues
what are some of the limitations with classical conditioning account for phobias?
not all phobias are linked to traumatic experiences, not everyone that has a bad experience with a specific object acquires a phobia, phobias are not equally distributed across all stimuli, doesn’t take into account incubation
we are biologically pre-wired to acquire certain phobias that have a real life threat = what theory is this?
preparedness theory
biological predisposition to learn to associate fear with stimuli that has been dangerous to ancestors so we are more likely to survive and pass on fear predisposition to future generations =
evolutionary perspective (could explain why some phobias are more common than others)
what brain area mediates fearful responding to phobic stimuli located within the medial temporal lobes?
amygdala
proposes that phobias are acquired by cognitive biases to maladaptive thinking > drive the phobia and cause the fear response = what theory?
cognitive
people with phobias attend to threat-relevant material ____ than non-phobic people. they show _______ _____
more, attentional bias
what are the limitations with cognitive theories of phobias?
not clear whether fear or cognitive biases come first
some phobias are associated with the emotion of ______
disgust
model with the view that some animal phobias are related to attempts to avoid disease or illness that might be transmitted by animals =
disease avoidance model
why is it bad for a phobic to avoid their fearful situation/stimuli?
dysfunctional beliefs don’t get challenged
what 2 treatments are often combined?
behavioural treatments and cognitive therapy
describe how a case formation is developed and then the cognitive techniques applied to a patient
therapist develops a formulation by asking several Qs > once initial assessment done > use techniques to address some of the dysfunctional beliefs > draw fear hierarchy > expose client gradually > include behavioural experiments
gradually exposing the client to the phobia from smallest fear to largest =
fear hierarchy
