Psychopathology- Phobias Flashcards by Milly Greenbank

Define phobias

-A type of anxiety disorder characterised by high levels of anxiety in response to a particular stimulus or group of stimuli
- an extreme fear (often irrational) of specific objects/organisms, situations or concepts
-The anxiety interferes with normal living

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What are the 3 main types of phobias

-Specific phobias
-Social phobias (social anxiety)
Agoraphobia

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What is a specific phobia?

-Phobia of an object (spider (arachnaphobia) or enclosed spaces (claustraphobia)) or situation (such as flying or having an injection)

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What is a social phobia?

-Phobia of a social situation or interaction (such as public speaking or being judged)

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What is agoraphobia?

-Phobia of being outside\a public space

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What are the 2 emotional characteristics of a phobia?

-Anxiety and fear
-Unreasonable responses

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What is meant by anxiety and fear and unreasonable responses?

Anxiety and fear:
-Immediate experience when the phobia is encountered, which leads to anxiety
Unreasonable responses:
-Disproportionate to the threat posed by it (phobic is usually aware of this)

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Give 3 behavioural characteristics of phobias

-Panic
-Avoidance
-Endurance

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What is meant by Panic, Avoidance and Endurance?

-Panic- state of high stress + anxiety, freezing, crying, screaming, running away, fainting
-Avoidance- a considerable effort to avoid the stimulus/ to ensure you do not encounter it, informing other people of the phobia so they are aware, can make it difficult to go about everyday life
-endurance- the sufferer remains in the presence of the stimulus and suffers from high levels of anxiety

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What are the 3 cognitive charcateristics?

-Selective attention to the phobic stimulus
-Irrational beliefs
-Cognitive distortions

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Explain the 3 cognitive charcteristics

Selective attention to the phobic stimulus- phobic finds it hard to look away from the phobic stimulus, and cannot think straight if it is in the room
Irrational beliefs- fears
Cognitive distortions- perception of phobia is worse than it is

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What are the 3 steps of the behaviourist approach to explaining phobias

-Only the behaviour is important (external behaviour)
-Abnormal behaviours are learned through conditioning and social learning
-The environment can reinforce maladaptive behaviour

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What is classical conditioning in phobias?

-Learning through association
-involves the transformation of a neutral stimulus into a conditioned stimulus
-Example: Little Albert, Pavlos dogs

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What is operant conditioning in phobias?

-Maintenance
-Learning through reinforcement + consequences
-Likelihood of behaviour is increased if it is rewarded
-The avoidance of the phobia/phobic stimulus reduces fear and reinforces it
-Negative reinforcement is escaping an unpleasant situation

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What is social learning theory in phobias?

-May be aqcuired through modelling of the behaviour

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What is the two-process model?

-Orval Hobart Mowrear
-Originally learned through classical conditioning and maintained through operant conditioning
-assumes that behaviour is learned through experience via environmental stimuli

What does behavioural treatment aim to do?

-Reduce phobic anxiety through the principal of classical conditioning whereby a new response to the phobic stimulus is paired with relaxation instead of anxiety- counterconditioning
-Reduce phobic anxiety through the principle of operant conditioning where there is no option for avoidance behaviour

Wolpe (1958)

-Based on classical conditioning, counterconditioning +reciprical inhibition
-The therapy aims to gradually reduce anxiety through counter-conditioning
-Phobia is learned so that phobic stimulus produces a fear response

What are the 3 processes involved in SD?

The anxiety hierarchy- constructed by the paitent + therapist, a stepped approach to getting the person to face the object/situation from least to most frightening
2.Paitent are trained in relaxation techniques so they can relax quickly
The paitent is gradually exposed to the phobic stimulus whilst practising the relaxation technique as feelings of tension and anxiety arise, when this has been achieved the paitent continues this process by moving up their hierarchy

Define reciprocal inhibition

It is not possible to be afraid and relaxed at the same time, so one emotion prevents the other

Define flooding

Involves overwhelming the individual senses with the item or situation that causes anxiety so that the person realises that no harm will occur

What does flooding involve?

-No relaxation techniques or step-by-step build-up
-Individual is exposed repeatedly and in an intensive way with their phobia
-Individual has their senses flooded with thoughts, images and actual experiences of the object of their phobia

Why does flooding work?

-Flooding stops phobic responses very quickly
-No option for avoidance behaviour, the paitent quickly learns that the phobic stimulus is harmless (extinction)
-A learned response is extinguished when the conditioned stimulus is encountered with the unconditioned stimulus
-The conditioned stimulus no longer produces the conditioned stimulus

What ethical considerations need to be considered when dealing with flooding?

-Not unethical as patients do give informed consent
-Is an unpleasant experience, the paitent has to be properly prepared

What are some similarities between SD and flooding?

-Both aim to treat phobias -Use conditioning -Exposure to the phobia -Only suitable for specific phobias

What are some differences between SD and flooding?

-One is gradual, one is very quick -SD involves relaxation techniques -Flooding= operant -SD= classical -SD is less traumatic

Give a strength of systematic desensitisation (effective)

-Effective -Gilroy et al (2003) followed up with 42 patients who had SD for a spider phobia in 3 45 minute sessions -At both 3 and 33 months the SD groups were less fearful than a control group treated with relaxation but not exposure -Shows that it works and results are long-lasting

Give another strength of SD (suitable for a range of patients)

-Suitable for a diverse range of patients -The alternatives to SD such as flooding and cognitive therapies are not well suited to some patients -For example, having learning difficulties can make it very hard to understand what is going on during flooding or to engage in cognitive therapies which require reflection -Most appropriate method for many people

Give a further strength of SD (acceptable to patients)

-Preferred method -Does not cause the same amount of trauma as flooding so includes elements of being present such as talking with the therapist -Low refusal rates, low attention rates (patients not finishing treatment)

Give 2 limitations of flooding

-Less effective for some types of phobias -Traumatic experience

Give a strength of the behaviourist approach to explaining Phobias (research evidence)

-The case study of Little Albert (Watson & Rayner, 1920) offers research support for the development of phobias -Little Albert (9-month-old baby) showed no anxiety or fear when initially presented with a white rat -As part of the conditioning process, when the white rat was presented to Albert it was accompanied by a loud, frightening noise (made by banging an iron bar close to Albert's head) -The noise (UCS) created a fear response (UCR) in Albert -The pairing of the rat (NS) with the noise (UCS) initially created the fear response -Albert started to display fear when he saw the rat (NS) without the noise (UCS) -The rat became the CS producing the CR of fear -Thus the findings suggest the phobia was established via classical conditioning

Give a strength of the behaviourist approach to explaining Phobias (Practical application)

-The TPM sets out the mechanisms via which phobias are conditioned -resulting in the development of therapies such as systematic desensitisation which work to reverse this process to successfully treat phobias -This means the TPM has useful application to treating phobias -However SD will not be effective for everybody

Give a limitation of the behaviourist approach to explaining phobias (reductionist)

-Biologically reductionist -The TPM only focusses on conditioning as a determinent as reasoning for phobia devolpment -Does not acknowledge that phobias may have an evolutionary origin -e.g fear of snakes (snakes may harm or kill humans thus it makes sense to fear them), heights (falling from a height will result in injury or death), the dark (an enemy or predator may attack at night) -So therefore it needs to allow for a biological explanation aswell as phobias could have an innate origin -More holistic + interactionalist approach would be more appropriate

Give a limitation of the behaviourist approach to explaining phobias

-The TPM cannot explain why some people may have continuous aversive experiences and yet do not develop a phobia, e.g.: -people who were physically punished at school, who do not develop school phobia -someone who was bitten by a dog as a child who does not develop cynophobia -Therfore lacks validty and explanatory power