Psychopathology Phobias

Question 1

Define Phobias 😣 and the types of Phobias

Answer 1

Phobias are irrational fears 🕷 that produce an avoidance of the feared object or situation.

• they are included in the DSM5 within the category of anxiety disorders.

The DSM5 categorises phobias into 3 main types.

Question 2

What are the 3 main types of Phobias 😣 and who categorises them?

Answer 2

3 main types of phobias that the DSM5 categorised are:

1. Specific phobias - include animal 🐶 phobias & situational type phobias e.g. dogs 🐕 , planes ✈️ , lifts etc.
2. Social Phobia - excessive fear of social situation e.g. eating in public 🍕, or going into public lavatory 🚽 .
3. Agoraphobia - fear of public places; though to be most serious of all phobias. Many people with agoraphobia are prone to panic attacks 😰 when they go to public places.

Question 3

Behavioural 💪🏼 Characteristics

Answer 3

• Panic - in presence of phobic stimulus stimulus - behaviours involved during panic attack 😰 are crying 😭, screaming 😵 or running away 🏃🏻‍♀️.
• Avoidance - unless sufferer is making conscious effort to face their fear, they tend to go to a lot of effort to avoid 🚷 coming into contact with phobic stimulus.

• Endurance - alternative to avoidance is endurance, in which sufferer remains in the presence of the phobic stimulus but continues to experience high levels of anxiety 😖.

Question 4

Emotional 😢 Characteristics

Answer 4

• Anxiety 😖 - prevents sufferer relaxing and make it difficult to experience any positive emotions 🤗🚫. Fear is the immediate and extremely unpleasant response we experience when we encounter/think about phobic stimulus.
• Emotional 😢 responses are unreasonable - emotional responses experienced in relation to phobic stimuli go beyond what is reasonable.

Question 5

Cognitive 🙆🏽‍♂️ Characteristics

Answer 5

• Decrease ⬇️ in concentration - people with phobias often find it difficult to concentrate therefore they have inability to complete tasks when phobic object or situation is around.
• Irrational beliefs - a phobic may hold irrational beliefs, e.g. social phobias can involve beliefs like ‘if I blush 😳 people will assume I’m weak’. This kind of belief increases the pressure on the sufferer to perform well in social situations.