Psychopathology - Phobias Flashcards
What are the diagnostic features of phobias?
1) Intense + persistent irrational fear of a particular object, event or situation.
2) Response to the thing is disproportionate to the actual threat of it.
3) The fear interferes with everyday life.
4) you can have phobias with or without panic attacks.
What are the emotional characteristics of phobias?
- Anxiety.
- Unpleasant state.
- Extreme fear.
- Fear is immediate.
What are the behavioural characteristics of phobias?
- Panic.
- Avoidance.
- Endurance (in unavoidable situations they will have continuous anxiety).
What are the cognitive characteristics of phobias?
- Irrational thought processes.
- Person knows their fear is excessive.
- Thinking resists rational arguments about the phobia.
What is the main conclusion of the two step model?
You learn a phobia through classical conditioning and maintain it through operate conditioning. Learn through association, maintain through reinforcement.
Describe an experiment that is against this theory.
Research found that over 1/2 of dog phobics could recall being bitten, but what about the rest? Over 1/2 of those who reported being bitten didn’t develop a phobia.
Some people believe we are biologically prepared to learn associations - fear for survival. Others believe we learn by watching others (SLT).
Describe operant conditioning’s role in the maintaining of phobias.
When we avoid a phobic stimulus we successfully escape the fear and anxiety, this is rewarding and negatively reinforces the behaviour, maintaining the phobia.
What is the aim of systematic desensitisation?
It aims to extinguish an undesirable behaviour by replacing it with a more desirable one (Learning to unlearn what you have learnt).
Describe the method of systematic desensitisation.
1) Therapist trains client in deep relaxation techniques. Aim is to replace fear response with relaxation.
2) Client will create a hierarchy of fear associated with the phobia.
3) The client works their way up the hierarchy performing their relaxation techniques at each stage. Once they feel comfortable and relaxed at one stage, they will move up to the next. If at any stage the level of fear becomes too much they will move down to the previous stage until they feel in a relaxed state again.
4) Over a series of sessions the client should be able to cope with every level.
5) fearful situations can be visualised or therapist can create real life situations (latter more effective).
Describe an example of Systematic Desensitisation.
McGrath 1990:
- 9 year old girl had a phobia of sudden load noises.
- First session she created a hierarchy of feared noises.
- she was then taught breathing and imagery techniques.
Findings:
- end of first session, she was reluctant to let balloons burst.
- end of 4th, she was able to signal a balloon being burst 10 metres away.
- 5th session, she was able to pop balloons herself.
- Next 3, she was able to pull party popper if therapist held it.
Her fear thermometer went:
For balloons: 7/10 - 3/10.
For party poppers: 9/10 - 3/10.
For cap gun: 8/10 - 5/10.
What are the advantages of systematic desensitisation?
- Effective for specific phobias.
- Individual is in control.
- Individual eased into situations.
- Quite quick.
What are the disadvantages of systematic desensitisation?
- Time consuming.
- Maintenance? How long do the effects last?
- Have to be committed.
- Cost. Quite expensive.
- Could cause symptom substitution.
What are the advantages of the behaviourist approach in explaining phobias?
- Explains the role of CC. i.e. many people with a dog phobia remember being bitten by a dog once.
- Lead to the development of therapies such as: systematic desensitisation and flooding.
- Two-process model has face validity.
What are the disadvantages of the behaviourist approach in explaining phobias?
- Environmentally reductionist. Waters down complex conditions too much.
- Ignores cognitive and biological explanations.
- Ignores the role of genetics.
What is Flooding? (Explain the process)
- The immediate exposure to a frightening situation.
- Prevention of avoidance (exposure).
- Patient learns stimulus is harmless.
- No longer produces the conditioned fear response.
- Can be vivo-actual exposure or vitro-imagined.
