phobias- psychopathology Flashcards
what are dsm-5 categories of phobia
phobias characterised by excessive fear and anxiety triggered by object place or situation
extent of fear out of proportion to any real danger presented by phobic stimulus
specific phobia- phobia of object
social anxiety- phobia of social situation
agoraphobia- phobia of being outside or in public place
what are behavioural characteristics of phobias
panic- may panic in response, involve crying screaming running away, children- freezing clinging or having tantrum
avoidance- go alot of effort to prevent coming into contact with phobic stimulus, make it hard to go about everyday life, someone with fear of public toilets limit they spend outside the home in relation how long last wihtout toilet, interfere with work education and social life
endurance- person chooses remain in presence of phobic stimulus, person with arachnophobia might choose to remain in room with spider on ceiling and keep eye on it rather than leaving
what are emotional characteristics of phobias
anxiety- emotioanl response of anxiety unpleasant state of high arousal, prevents person relaxing and makes difficult to experience any positive emotion, can be long term
fear- immediate and unpleasant response when encounter or think about phobic stimulus, more intense but short term
emotional response is unreasonable- anxiety or fear greater than normal and disproportionate to any threat posed, person with arachnophobia will have strong emotioanl response to tiny spider, most people respond in less anxious way to poisonous spider
what is cognitive characteristics of phobias
selective attention to phobic stimulus- is person can see phobic stimulus hard to look away, keeping attention on something dangerous good thing gives best chance to react quicker to threat, person with pagonophobia struggle to concentrate on what theyre doing if there is someone with beard in room
irrational beliefs- person with phobia may have unfounded thoughts, social phobias involve beliefs like i must always sound intelligent or if i blush people will think im weak, increases pressure on person to perform weel in social situations
cognitive distortions- perceptions of person with phobic stimulus may be inaccurate and unrealistic, someone with mycophobia sees mushrooms as disgsting and ophidiophobic may see nakes as alien and aggressive looking
