Psychopathology - phobias Flashcards
phobias are charcateised by
excessive fear and anxiety
triggerd by object
place
situation
in phobias describe the extent of fear
out of proportion
to any real danger
presented by phobic stimulus
BCOP - how do we respond to things or situations we fear
by behaving in particular ways
- feeling high levels of anxiety
- trying to escape
BCOP - the fear repsones in phobias are the same as
even if
what we experience for any other fear
even if the fear level is irrational
BCOP - what do i mean when i say the fear lvl is irrational
out of proportion to the phobic stimulus
BCOP - what are the 3 behavioural charcateristic of phobiuas
Panic
Avoidance
Endurance
BCOP - what may a person do in repsonse to the prescence of a phobic stimulus
panic
BCOP - give examples of some of the behaviours panicking may involve
range of behaviours e.g
crying
screaming
running away
BCOP - in term of panic how many children react
slighlty diffrently e.g
freezing
clingning
having tantrum
BCOP - What is avoidance
instead of making consocious effort to face their fear
go to a lot of effort to prevent coming into contact with phobic stimulus
BCOP - what can avoidance do
make it hard to go about daily life
BCOP - give example of how avoidance can make it hard to go about daily life
someone with fear of public toilets
limit time spent otuside relevant to how long they can last without toilet
this in turn can interfere with work education social life
BCOP - what is the alt behavioural repsonse to avoidance
endurance
BCOP - what is enudrance
when person chooses to remian in prescenece of phobic stimulus
BCOP - give exampe of endurance
someone with arachnophobia choose to remain in room with spider on wall and keep wary eye on it rather than leaving
ECOP - emotional charcterstics are
related to a person feeling or mood
ECOP - what are the emotional charcteristics of phobias
anxiety
fear
emotional repsonse is unreasonable
ECOP - what are phobias classed as
anxiety disorders
ECOP - phobias are anxiety disorders what does this mean
involve an emotional repsonse of anxiety - an unpleasant state of high arousal
ECOP - what does anxiety do i.e prevent
prevents a person relaxing
ECOP - what does anxiety make difficult to experience
very difficult to experience any positive emotion
ECOP - anxiety can be what type of timeframe
long term
ECOP - fear and anxiety have what type of meanings
distinct meaning s
ECOP - fear meaning
immediate and xtremly unpleasnat resposne we experience when encounter or think about a phobic stimulus
ECOP - compare fear to anxiety
usually more intense
experienced for shorter period than anxiety q
ECOP - unreasonable - anxiety and fear are much greater than
and
in terms of proportions
than is normal
and
disproportionate to any threat posed by phobic stimulus
ECOP - give example of emotional response being unreasonabe
arachnophobia person has strong emotional response to tiny spider e.g meltdown
when in reality most people respond in a less anxious way even to a poisonous spider
CCOP - what is the cognitive elemt of phobuas concerned with
ways which people process info
CCOP -how do people with phobias process info about phobic stimulus
differentley from other objects and situations
CCOP - what are the three cognitive characteristics of phobias
selective attention to phobic stimulus
irrational beliefs
cognitive distortions
CCOP - SELECTIVE ATTENTION TO STIMULUS - if person can see phobic stimulus
hard to look away from it
CCOP - SATS why is keeping our attention on something really dangerous a good thing
gives us best chance of reacting quickly to a threat
CCOP - SATS - when is keeping attention on dangerous thing not useful
when fear irrational
CCOP - DEFINE irrational beleifs
2 points
holding
explanation
person with phobia may hold unfounded thoughts in relation to phobic stimulus
they cant be explained easily and have no basis in relaity
CCOP - give scenario where someone with social phobia has irrational beliefs
if i blush people will think im weka
CCOP - socila phobia : if i blush people will think im weak - what does this kind of belief do
increase pressure on person to perform well in social situations
CCOP - what are cognitive distortions
perception of person with phobia may be innacurate and unrealistic
give an example of cognitive distortion
someone with mycophobia sees mushrooms as disgusting
