Psychopathology: phobias

Question 1

Define phobias

Answer 1

A phobia is an intense, overwhelming and debilitating fear of an object, place, situation, feeling or animal. They are more prominent than fears and may lead to an individual organising their life around their phobia.

Phobias are a very common anxiety disorder and some estimates suggest between 15-20% of the population will experience a phobia.

To be diagnosed with the condition, typically the disorder must be interfering with day to day functioning and last longer than 6 months.

Question 2

Emotional characteristics of phobias

Answer 2

How do you FEEL when you see your feared object?

Persistent, excessive, unreasonable fear - e.g., feeling terrified at the sight of a clown

High level of anxiety when anticipating the object - e.g., sweating and shaking when you know a clown is near by

Fear when presented with the object - e.g., trembling and crying when a clown appears

Question 3

Behavioural characteristics of phobias

Answer 3

How do you BEHAVE when you see your feared object?

Panic attacks, crying, screaming, running away, freezing or clinging - e.g., when you see a clown

Avoiding the feared stimulus - e.g., not going to a circus

Disrupted everyday functioning - e.g., not able to go to any family fun events in case they have clowns

Question 4

Cognitive characteristics of phobias

Answer 4

What do you THINK about your feared object?

Conscious awareness of exaggerated anxiety - e.g., knowing your trembling and crying is excessive

Paying selective attention to the feared stimulus - e.g., watching a film where there is a clown in a small picture and not being able to see anything else

Irrational beliefs - e.g., every clown is evil

Cognitive distortions - e.g., if I go outside the house, I will probably see a clown

Question 5

Explaining phobias: two-process model

Answer 5

One of the best explanations of phobias comes from the behavioural approach, specifically classical and operant conditioning. These forms of conditioning basically state we learn behaviour through:

Association → ( classical conditioning) → acquisition of phobia
Consequences → ( operant conditioning) → maintenance of phobia

Mowrer (1947) suggested both of these processes are needed to develop a phobia, hence being called the two-process model.

Question 6

ACQUISITION: CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

Answer 6

1. UCS (danger / pain) = UCR (fear and anxiety)
2. NS (stimulus pre-phobia) + UCS (danger / pain) = UCR (fear and anxiety)
3. CS (phobic stimulus) = CR (fear and anxiety)
4. UCS (pain of being bitten) = UCR (fear and anxiety)
5. NS (dog) + UCS (pain of being bitten) = UCR (fear and anxiety)
6. CS (dog) = CR (fear and anxiety)

Question 7

MAINTENANCE: OPERANT CONDITIONING

Answer 7

Learning through reinforcement or punishment:
Positive reinforcement
- Positive reward for a behaviour → Increases repetition of behaviour

Negative reinforcement
- Behaviour avoids punishment→ Increases repetition of behaviour

Punishment
- Negative consequence for a behaviour→ Decreases repetition of behaviour

Question 8

Describe stimulus generalisation

Answer 8

Stimulus generalisation can occur when this anxiety can become generalised to all similar objects/situations.
As the person avoids all dogs and places where dogs may be (like the park), this ultimately reduces their fear and anxiety through negative reinforcement, and can be referred to as higher order conditioning, because now parks have also been associated with the CS of dogs.

Question 9

Describe higher order conditioning

Answer 9

hIgher order conditioning → when another neutral stimulus (the park) is paired with a conditioned stimulus (dogs) to produce the conditioned response (fear).

Question 10

EVALUATING THE
BEHAVIOURIST EXPLANATION
OF PHOBIAS: evidence

Answer 10

STRENGTH #1
The theory has experimental support for explaining phobias.

Watson & Raynor (1920) conducted research on Little Albert in which they established… a phobia could be acquired through classical conditioning. First, the introduced Albert to a white rat (NS) and he was unafraid). They then repeatedly paired the rat (NS) with a loud noise (UCS) which caused a fear response (UCR). Eventually, Albert began to show fear (CR) to the white rat (CS) alone.

This supporting research gives an element of validity to the theory of environmental causes of phobic reactions. With the theory being more credible, this means it is more likely to inform more useful practical applications regarding the treatments of phobias.

Question 11

EVALUATING THE
BEHAVIOURIST EXPLANATION
OF PHOBIAS: incomplete explanation

Answer 11

P: However, the explanation is significantly weakened by the fact that not all incidences of
trauma result in subsequent phobias.
E: This suggests there are elements of cognition that mediate the onset of phobia
development as some people experience traumatic events and do not have phobias.
E: For instance… many people may have have a traumatic incident with a wasp yet do not develop phobias.
L: This implies that the learning account of phobias is incomplete and has problems applying to real life

Question 12

EVALUATING THE
BEHAVIOURIST EXPLANATION
OF PHOBIAS: practical applications

Answer 12

P: The theory has good practical application for treating phobias.
E: The explanation has helped devise useful treatments to unlearn phobias based on the
two process model…e.g. systematic desensitisation involves using classical conditioning to create new positive associations between a previously feared CS

E: i.e. to show relaxation and calm with the previously feared item

L: This illustrates that the explanation has helped society and the 20% of the population
that suffer phobias.

Question 13

EVALUATING THE
BEHAVIOURIST EXPLANATION
OF PHOBIAS: environmentally reductionist

Answer 13

P: This theory could be argued to be environmentally reductionist.
E: The concept that complex and debilitating behaviour like phobias can be reduced down
to simple stimulus/response reactions could be breaking the behaviour down too much,
resulting in other relevant and applicable explanations.
E: For example… this would neglect to consider cognitive reasons for the onset of phobias as well as imitating powerful role models (e.g. parents)

L: Hence, the two process model of phobias may provide an incomplete explanation of
phobias.

Question 14

EVALUATING THE
BEHAVIOURIST EXPLANATION
OF PHOBIAS: of ‘Biological preparedness’ may better explain phobias
than behaviourist explanations.

Answer 14

P: Alternative biological explanation of ‘Biological preparedness’ may better explain phobias
than behaviourist explanations.
E: This is because learning does not account for the fact that fears/phobias promoted
our survival and may still serve our interests to keep us safe, so it makes sense that we have
these phobias due to evolutionary reasons.
E: The kinds of fears/phobias that would have been of survival value would be…. ancient fears like scared of spiders, snakes and heights. This would serve an evolutionary advantage

L: This suggests that, the 2 process model offers only a partial incomplete explanation of phobias

Question 15

EVALUATING THE
BEHAVIOURIST EXPLANATION
OF PHOBIAS: based on highly scientific principles

Question 16

What principle does systematic D operate on?

Answer 16

Classical conditioning

Question 17

First stage of S D?

Answer 17

Fear hierachy

Question 18

Describe what a fear hierachy is

Answer 18

together the client and therapist construct a fear hierarchy. This is a list of situations in which the client would feel anxiety, arranged from most to least anxiety producing

Question 19

Second stage of S D ?

Answer 19

relaxation training

Question 20

What is meant by relaxation training for SD?

Answer 20

The client is taught different techniques for relaxing. These would probably include controlling breathing (e.g 7/11) and muscular tension by using progressive muscle relaxation and might include other techniques

Question 21

3rd stage of SD?

Answer 21

graduated exposure

Question 22

describe graduated exposure as a part of SD

Answer 22

over the course of 6-12 sessions, client is gradually brought into contact with their phobic object. Thye start at the bottom of their fear hierarchy and work upward. MUST use relaxation training until they are relaxed with phobic object

in vitro- client imagines exposure to the phobic stimulus

in vivo- the client is actually exposed to the phobic stimulus

Question 23

Last stage of SD?

Answer 23

Reciprocal inhibition

Question 24

Describe reciprocal inhibition

Answer 24

this means that two opposite emotions like fear and relaxation cannot co-exist at the same time. Hence, under specific relaxation techniques you cannot be anxious

Question 25

Evaluative points for systematic desensitisation to treat phobias: evidence

Answer 25

P: There is a wealth of evidence that supports the use of Systematic Desensitisation in
treating phobias.
E: For example, WOLPE used SD on 39 patients (68 phobias) and it was successful with 91%

E: the other 9% unsuccessful were mostly due to special problems including an inability to imagine situations presented in the hierarchy

L: This implies…DS is an effective therapy for unlearning phobias

Question 26

Evaluative points for systematic desensitisation to treat phobias: does not deal with root cause

Answer 26

P: Some psychologists argue that systematic desensitisation does not deal with the root
cause of phobias and therefore does not offer a full cure.
E: S.D. may appear to resolve a problem but eliminating/suppressing symptoms may result
in other symptoms appearing (symptom substitution).
E: This is where patients could develop further phobic responses to different new things.
L: This implies the therapy could be considered superficial and provide only temporary
relief.

Question 27

Evaluative points for systematic desensitisation to treat phobias:
Ethics can be praised

Answer 27

P: The ethics of the therapy can also be praised…
E: This is because…
the patient is given more control in the SD procedure and will only move on when they are ready to
E: The treatment is considered to be far more ethical than other based on CC like flooding

L: This means that in many ways the patient is PROTECTED from HARM and the therapy
should be praised.

Question 28

Evaluative points for systematic desensitisation to treat phobias: not effective on all phobias

Answer 28

P: There is some evidence that suggests the benefit of systematic desensitisation is not the
same for all PHOBIAS, especially social/complex phobias.
E: complex and social phobias such as agoraphobia do not respond so well and relapse rates are high

E: Craske and Barlow found that between 60-80% of agoraphobias show

L: This implies the use of SD is only appropriate to certain types of phobias and has limited
use.