PP -Behaviour, emotional and cognitive characteristics of phobias Flashcards
What are the behavioral characteristics of phobias?
1) AVOIDANCE- When faced with the object or situation that creates fear, the response is to avoid the object or situation. This can interfere with the person’s normal daily life such as their social or occupational activities and can cause distress. People might avoid places where they might see their phobic object.
2) ENDURANCE (FREEZE/FAINT)- When faced with the object or situation that is feared, a person might freeze or faint instead.
3) DISRUPTION OF FUNCTIONING- Anxiety and avoidance created by the phobia might be so extreme, that this could interfere with the persons’ ability to function socially or at work.
4) PANIC- 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 phobias?
1) FEAR: Persistent, excessive and unreasonable fear might be felt in the presence of the stimulus. They might have feelings of terror and death when in contact with phobic object.
2) PANIC &ANXIETY: The person will feel highly anxious and experience unpleasant negative feelings with faced with phobic object.
3) EMOTIONS: Strong emotions are cued by the presence of the phobic object, and out of proportion to the actual danger that is posed. E.g screaming uncontrollably at a small spider 20m away.
What are the cognitive characteristics of phobias?
1) IRRATIONAL: The person will think in an irrational manner about their phobia, and they will resistant rational arguments that counter it.
2) INSIGHT: The person will know that their fear is excessive or unreasonable but still find it difficult not to fear the object.
3) COGNITIVE DISTORTIONS: The person will have a distorted perception of the stimulus. For instance they might view snakes as alien and aggressive.
4) SELECTIVE ATTENTION: When the person encounters the phobic stimulus, they cannot look away and they focus all of their attention on it. They will ignore everything else around them and just focus on the phobic object.
