phobias ao1 Flashcards
phobias come under …
Anxiety disorder
What is an anxiety disorder and what triggers it
Excessive/irrational fear and anxiety
Triggered by an object or situation
What important about the level of fear in a phobia what does fear lead to
The level of fear is completely out of all proportion to the actual stimulus
Fear leads to concious avoidance of the stim
3 types of phobia
Specific phobias
Social phobia
Agoraphobia
Define specific phobia and give exmaple
Fears ab specific objects or situations
Eg spiders snakes
Define social phobia and exmaple
Anxiety relating to social situations
Public speaking tlakinf to group of ppl using public toilets
Define agoraphobia
Fear of being in situation where escape difficult and feeling trapped
Eg travelling on public transport or even leaving home
What are 3 categories of characteristics of Phobias
Behavioural - to do w Actions
Emotional - feelings
Cognitive - ab thoughts and interpretations
describe the 3 behavioural characteristics of phobias
Panic - eg screaming running
Avoidance - active avoidance of stim or situation where you may come across stim - concious effort to avoid
Endurance - opposite to avoidance person may stay in the same room as te phobia to keep an eye on it
2 emotional characteristics of phobias
Excessive and unreasonable …
Fear
Anxiety
3
cognitive characteristics of phobias
To do w thoughts …
1) Selective attention to stim - only conc on stim and nothing else
2) Irrationality of thoughts- eg not going on plane due to fear of crashing
3) cogntive distortions- seeing a stim as scarier than it acc is eg seeing a nice clown but they see it as a killer Clown
what is DSM
system used to classify mental disorders and allow them to be dignosed
define phobia
anxiety disorder and is an extreme, irratonal reaction to an object or situation
state 3 behavioural characteristics of phobias
panic
aviodance
endurance
describe 2 emotional characterisrics of phobias
anxiety - unpleasant state of high arousal
fear - immediate respose but expirenced for shorther amoun of time than anxiety
state 4
cognitive characteristics of phobias
selective attention
irrational belifs
cognitive distortions
irrationality of thoughts
what causes phobias
learned beh - eg +ve and -ve rein
assosications between stim eg classical conditioning
who and when said what causes phobias
orwal mowrer 1947
what did orwal mowrer 1947 state about phobias
proposed at 2 step model
1) phobias aqquired by classical conditioning
2) continued through operant cond
describe research demonstrating acquisition of phobias
little albert 1920
9 month old baby watson and raynor
conditioned a fear response of white rat in baby
stimuli and response in little albert
NS –> NR
RAT –> NO RESPONSE
UCS–> UCR
LOUD BANG –> FEAR
NS + UCS (PAIRED OVERTIME) –> UCR
RAT + LOUD BANG –> FEAR
CS –> CR
RAT –> FEAR
what did mowrer say ab phobias aqquired through classical cond and operatnt
usually decline overtime with classical
long lasting phobias occur via operant
what is negative reinforcment in phobias
occurs when individual avoids a situation which is upleasant this is therefore increasing the behaviour
how does mowrer describe how phobias are maintained
when we succesfully avoid phobic stim we succesfully escape fear and enxiety that we would have expirenced if we stayed where we were (reward is neg rein)
this reduction in fear reinforces the avoidance behaviour, phobia is maintained
what is stimulus generalisation and give an example of this in the little albert study
fear becomes extended to things that are similar to stimuli
eg albert became fearful of white furry things eg santa claus mask and white rabbit
2 methods of behavioural treatment of phobias
systematic desensitisation
flooding
what is systematic desensitisation
behavioural theraoy desgined to reduce a response to a stimulus
works off the clasical conditioninf principle whereby
you learn to relqx in presense of stim - learning a new response to the stimulus counter - conditioning
this leads to * reciprocal inhibiton*
- this is when 2 opposing feelings cant exist at same space in time
so for example relaxation is presense if spider eg cant exist in same time and thus relaxation takes over
3 processes involved in systematic desensitisation
1) the anxiety hireachy
2) relaxation
3) exposure
The anxiety hierarchy and give example
This is put together by client w phobia and therapist
It’s a list of situations related to phobic stim that provoke anxiety arranged from least to most frightening
Eg a person with arachnophobia may identify seeing a picture of a small spider as low on the anxiety hierarchy and holding a tarantula at the top
Describe the 2nd step relaxation in the process of SD
the therapist teaches Client to relax as deeply as possible
It’s impossible to relaxed and scared at the same time so one emotion prevents the other reciprocal inhibition
Could involve breathing techniques or meditation
Describe the 3rd step of the exposure in SD
finally client is exposed to phobic stim while in relaxed state
Occurs across several sessions starting at the bottom of the anxiety - once they stay relaxed they move up the hierarchy
How do you know if systematic densitisation has been effective
When clients can stay relaxed in in situations high on the anxiety hierarchy
What is flooding and how often do sessions last give exmaple
Exposes ppl to their phobic stim without a gradual build up in the anxiety hierarchy
So session lasts 2-3 h
Eg sm1 w arachnophobia may have spider crawl over them throughout the session
How does flooding work
Stops phobic response quickly
Bc stops avoidance of behaviour so client quickly learns phobia is harmless
Method of flooding name
Process called extinction in classical conditioning terms
Describe the method of flooding
Learned response extinguished when conditioned stimulus eg a dog
Is encounterd without unconditional stimulus (eg being bitten)
The result is that the conditioned stimulus no longer produces conditioned responnse of fear
What’s something the therapist could do in the process of flooding that wouldn’t cause extinction
Is therapist allows client out to early there is a risk of reinforcing phobia as client woufl have successfully avoided phobia
What is counter conditioning and what does it lead to
When you learn to relax in the presence of the stimulus - thus learning a new response to the stimulus
Leading to reciprocal inhibiton where you can’t be relaxed and scared at the same time so the relaxation takes over
