Phobias - Psychopathology Flashcards
What is a phobia?
A mental disorder characterised by high levels of anxiety in response to a stimulus.
What percentage of the population have phobias?
2.6% of the population.
What are the behavioural characteristics of a phobia?
Avoidance, Endurance, Disruption of functioning, Panic.
What is avoidance as a behavioural characteristic of phobias?
When faced with the situation that creates fear, the response is to avoid the object or situation. This can interfere with the person’s normal daily life and can cause distress.
What is endurance as a behavioural characteristic of phobias?
When a person is stressed their bodily response is usually fight/flight. However, when faced with the object or situation that is feared a person might freeze or faint instead.
What is disruption of functioning as a behavioural characteristic of phobias?
Anxiety and avoidance created by the phobia might be so extreme that this could interfere with the person’s ability to function socially or at work.
What is panic as a behavioural characteristic of phobias?
The person with the phobia might panic in the presence of the stimulus. They might show behavioural characteristics of crying, screaming, vomiting, running away or freezing.
What are the emotional characteristics of a phobia?
Fear, Panic and anxiety.
What is fear as an emotional characteristic of phobias?
Persistent, excessive and unreasonable fear might be felt in the presence of the stimulus.
What is panic and anxiety as an emotional characteristic of phobias?
The person will feel highly anxious and experience unpleasant negative feelings when faced with the phobic situation.
What are emotions as an emotional characteristic of phobias?
Strong emotions are cued by the presence or anticipation of the phobic object/situation, and these are out of proportion to the actual danger that is posed.
What are the cognitive characteristics of a phobia?
Irrationality, Insight, Cognitive distortions, Selective attention.
What is irrationality as a cognitive characteristic of phobias?
The person will think in an irrational manner about their phobia, and they will resist rational arguments that counter it.
What is insight as a cognitive characteristic of phobias?
The person will know that their fear is excessive or unreasonable, but they still find it difficult not to fear the object.
What is cognitive distortions as a cognitive characteristic of phobias?
The person will have a distorted perception of the stimulus.
What is selective attention as a cognitive characteristic of phobias?
When the person encounters the phobic stimulus, they cannot look away and they focus all of their attention on it.
What is the behavioural approach to explaining phobias?
All behaviours, including phobias, can be learnt and people with abnormalities can learn negative behaviours.
What is the two process model?
Classical conditioning and Operant conditioning causing and maintaining phobias.
What is classical conditioning?
Building up an association between two different stimuli.
What study looks at classical conditioning?
Study by Watson and Rayner: Little Albert (1920).
What are the disadvantages of classical conditioning?
- Only carried out once
- It doesn’t explain how all phobias develop
- Menzies criticises.
Why is it a disadvantage that the Little Albert study was only done once?
Findings not repeated so not reliable, unethical so cannot be repeated.
Why doesn’t classical conditioning explain all phobias?
DiNardo et al. Some people have a traumatic experience however, they do not always develop a phobia.
Why does Menzies criticise the behavioural model?
He criticises behavioural model and classical conditioning after studying hydrophobia and only 2% had it due to classical conditioning.
What are the advantages of classical conditioning?
- King (1998) supports.
Why does King (1998) support classical conditioning in causing phobias?
From reviewing case studies he has found that children acquire phobias by encountering traumatic experiences with the phobic object.
What is social learning theory?
Based on observational learning whereby young children might observe a reaction that their parents or family have to a particular situation.
What did Minneka find about social learning?
When one monkey in a cage showed a fear response to snakes, the other monkeys in the cage copied this response.
What is operant conditioning?
Learning a new response that can result in reinforcement.
What is negative reinforcement?
The reinforcement of a response by the removal, escape from, or avoidance of an unpleasant stimulus.
What is positive reinforcement in phobias?
Increasing behaviors by presenting positive reinforcers. By avoiding the phobic object and not feeling fear, this is rewarding.
What are the disadvantages of the Two Process Model?
- Ignores other factors causing phobias
- Weak in explaining.
How does the two process model ignore other factors that could cause phobias?
Does not take into account biological or evolutionary factors that could cause phobias.
How is the two process model weak?
Does not adequately account for the cognitive characteristics of phobias and is reductionist.
What are the advantages of the Two Process Model?
- Bandura supports social learning theory
- Involves two clear steps.
How does Bandura support social learning theory within the two process model?
Research was conducted whereby a person acted as if they were in pain when a buzzer sounded, and participants had to watch this reaction.
What is systematic desensitisation?
Behavioural therapy to reduce phobias through classical conditioning.
Who came up with systematic desensitisation?
Wolpe (1958).
What is the process involved in Systematic Desensitisation?
- Hierarchy of fear - Relaxation techniques - Gradual exposure.
What is hierarchy of fear?
Constructed by therapist and patient. Situations involving phobic object are ranked from least to most fearful.
What are relaxation techniques in systematic desensitisation?
Patients are taught deep breathing and progressive muscle relaxation techniques.
What is gradual exposure in systematic desensitisation?
Patient is introduced to their phobic object gradually and they work their way up the fear hierarchy.
What are the advantages of Systematic Desensitisation?
- Klosko et al (1990) supports - SD is less traumatic than flooding.
Why does Klosko et al (1990) support systematic desensitisation?
He assessed various therapies for the treatment of panic disorders and found that 87% of patients were panic free after receiving SD.
What are the disadvantages of Systematic Desensitisation?
- Not always practical to confront the fear in real life - May only address the surface level issues of the phobia.
What is flooding?
Directly exposing the patient to feared object after being taught relaxation techniques.
What are the advantages of flooding?
- Cost effective and faster - Ost (1997) stated that it’s effective and rapid.
What are the disadvantages of flooding?
- Less effective for some phobias such as social phobia - Highly traumatic and some patients may pull out of the experiment.
