phobias

Question 1

marked fear/anxiety confided to specific object or situation =

Answer 1

specific phobias

Question 2

why does a phobic develop avoidance strategies?

Answer 2

to minimise possibility of contact with that phobia trigger of extreme fear and panic

Question 3

what are phobics normally aware of?

Answer 3

that their fear is excessive and unreasonable

Question 4

info on why they think their phobia is threatening and how they react when in the phobic situation =

Answer 4

phobic beliefs

Question 5

what do phobias trigger?

Answer 5

the automatic fight-flight response

Question 6

what are the 5 sub groups?

Answer 6

animals, natural environment, blood-injection-injury, situational, other

Question 7

what is the diagnosis for having a phobia?

Answer 7

increased autonomic arousal, physiological response (increased HR, palpitations, sweaty)

Question 8

list the 5 different theories/accounts to explain phobias

Answer 8

psychoanalytic, classical conditioning, biological, cognitive, multiple pathways

Question 9

defence against anxiety produced by repressed id impulses and this fear becomes associated with external things that have symbolic relevance to the id impulse =

Answer 9

Freud’s psychoanalytic account

Question 10

while there is little evidence to support psychoanalytic accounts how does it still provide an important insight?

Answer 10

many anxiety disorders may function as a way of avoiding confrontation with the real underlying issues

Question 11

what are some of the limitations with classical conditioning account for phobias?

Answer 11

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

Question 12

we are biologically pre-wired to acquire certain phobias that have a real life threat = what theory is this?

Answer 12

preparedness theory

Question 13

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 =

Answer 13

evolutionary perspective (could explain why some phobias are more common than others)

Question 14

what brain area mediates fearful responding to phobic stimuli located within the medial temporal lobes?

Answer 14

amygdala

Question 15

proposes that phobias are acquired by cognitive biases to maladaptive thinking > drive the phobia and cause the fear response = what theory?

Answer 15

cognitive

Question 16

people with phobias attend to threat-relevant material ____ than non-phobic people. they show _______ _____

Answer 16

more, attentional bias

Question 17

what are the limitations with cognitive theories of phobias?

Answer 17

not clear whether fear or cognitive biases come first

Question 18

some phobias are associated with the emotion of ______

Answer 18

disgust

Question 19

model with the view that some animal phobias are related to attempts to avoid disease or illness that might be transmitted by animals =

Answer 19

disease avoidance model

Question 20

why is it bad for a phobic to avoid their fearful situation/stimuli?

Answer 20

dysfunctional beliefs don’t get challenged

Question 21

what 2 treatments are often combined?

Answer 21

behavioural treatments and cognitive therapy

Question 22

describe how a case formation is developed and then the cognitive techniques applied to a patient

Answer 22

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

Question 23

gradually exposing the client to the phobia from smallest fear to largest =

Answer 23

fear hierarchy