Psychopathology: Phobias (L5-7) Flashcards
1
Q
What is a phobia?
A
- a mental disorder characterised by high levels of anxiety in response to a stimulus
- this anxiety interferes with their daily life
- it can cause irrational fear and people may consciously avoid the object of their phobia
- people may show signs such as crying, shaking, sweating + panic attacks when in contact with the phobic object
2
Q
What are the 2 manuals psychologists use that help classify psychological disorders such as phobias?
A
- DSM-V, diagnostic statistical manual version 5
- ICD-10, international classification of diseases version 10
3
Q
What are the behavioural characteristics of phobias?
A
- avoidance: avoiding the object/situation
- endurance (freeze/faint): bodily response is usually fight or flight
- disruption of functioning: may interfere with the persons ability to function
- panic: such as crying, screaming, vomiting, running away or freezing
4
Q
What are the emotional characteristics of phobias?
A
- fear: persistent, excessive and unreasonable fear might be felt in the presence of the stimulus
- panic and anxiety: feeling highly anxious and experiencing unpleasant negative feelings when face with the phobic object
5
Q
What are the cognitive characteristics of phobias?
A
- irrational: person will think in an irrational manner and will resist rational arguments that counter it
- insight: they will know their is excessive or unreasonable but will still find it difficult or not fear the object
- cognitive distortions: personal will have a distorted perception of the stimulus such as viewing the object in a negative way like being aggressive
- selective attention: when they encounter the phobic stimulus, they may not be able to look away and focus all their attention on it while ignoring everything else around them
6
Q
Who made the Two Process Model?
A
- Mowrer
7
Q
What is the Two Process Model made up of?
A
- onset of phobia: can occur directly by classical conditioning or indirectly by social learning
- maintenance of phobia: operant conditioning occurs whereby the feared object is avoided (negative reinforcement) which reduces anxiety and acts as a reward
8
Q
Phobias are learnt via:
A
- classical conditioning
- operant conditioning
9
Q
The behavioural model suggests that:
A
- all behaviour can be learnt including phobias
- and that people who have an abnormality can learn negative behaviours
10
Q
What is classical conditioning?
A
- method of learning
- produces a natural reflex in response to a previously neutral stimulus
- involves building up an association between 2 different stimuli so that learning takes place
- a neutral stimulus is paired with an unconditioned stimulus to produce a conditioned stimulus with the conditioned response
11
Q
A study of Classical Conditioning is:
A
- Little Albert (1920)
- by Watson and Rayner
12
Q
What is operant conditioning?
A
- learning through the consequences of your actions
- helps explain how phobias can be maintained
- negative reinforcement: removal of something bad such avoiding the phobic object in order to reduce risk of fear
- positive reinforcement: avoiding the phobic object and not feeling fear, this is rewarding
13
Q
Description of the procedure of Little Albert experiment:
A
- Albert was 11 months old
- baby was shown a white rat (neutral stimulus) on its own
- then loud banging noise (unconditioned stimulus) was made which caused an emotional response
- the 2 stimulus were then paired together until classical conditioning and learning take place
- the 2 stimuli were repeated 3 times in one go and then repeated again 3 times the week after
- when conditioned stimulus was presented Albert had an emotional response (conditioned response)
- learning took place via classical conditioning and the association was established
14
Q
Findings of Little Albert Experiment?
A
- Albert was conditioned and learnt to be scared of white rates despite no loud noise
- his fear was generalised to all fluffy, white objects
15
Q
+ve evaluation of classical conditioning:
A
- King (1998) supports the ideas proposed by classical conditioning
- through reviewing cases he found that children acquire phobias through traumatic experiences with the phobic object
- e.g. children who have got bitten by a dog may develop a phobia of dogs
16
Q
-ve evaluation of classical conditioning:
A
–study of Little Albert can be criticised as it was only repeated once
- findings have not been repeated making them not very reliable
- could be questioned whether the results would be the same if they study was repeated
- but cannot be repeated due to ethical reasons
= some people do have a traumatic experience but may not go on to develop a phobia
= so classical conditioning does not explain how all phobias develop
= opposite is also true as some are scared of an object they haven’t had a negative experience with or even encountered
- the psychologist Menzies criticises the behavioural model, especially the idea of classical conditioning
- studied that people that had a fear of water (hydrophobia) and found that only 2% had encountered a negative experience with water
- which means 98% had hydrophobia without having a negative experience so no learning via classical conditioning
- also found that 50% of people with a phobia of dogs never had a bad encounter
- suggests that learning cannot be a key factor in the development of the phobia
17
Q
What is the social learning theory?
A
- suggests that social behaviour is learned by observing and imitating the behaviour of others
- like a child observing a family member have a reaction to a particular situation which the child will then copy when in the same situation
- psychologist Minneka found that when one monkey in a cage showed a fear response to snakes, the other monkeys copied, this can be applied to humans
18
Q
+ve evaluation of the Two Process Model:
A
- Bandura supports the ides of the social learning theory
- reasearch was carried out where a person acted as if they were in pain when a buzzer sounded and participants had to watch this reaction
- later when participants got to hear the sound of the buzzer they showed the same response and acted as if they were in pain
= involves 2 clear steps that highlight how phobias are learned and maintained
= learnt by classical conditioning or social learning then maintained by operant conditioning
= accurate way in explaining how phobias can be learnt overall
19
Q
-ve evaluation of the Two Process Model:
A
- limited as it ignores other factors which may cause phobias
- behavioural model focuses on learning and the environment but doesn’t take into account biological or evolutionary factors that could cause phobias
- some may have more of a genetic vulnerability and the behavioural model would ignore this
= social learning theory can successfully explain how learning occurs in animals and children
= not very strong in explaining how adults can learn to have phobias
= behavioural model is therefore limited to only explaining learning in only young children and animals
20
Q
Who developed systematic desensitisation?
A
- Wolpe (1958)
21
Q
What is systematic desensitisation?
A
- behavioural therapy to reduce/diminish phobias by using classical conditioning
22
Q
How does systematic desensitisation work?
A
- person with a phobia experiences fear and anxiety as a behavourial response to an object/situation
- SD uses classical conditioning to replace the irrational fears and anxieties associated with phobic objects with calm and relaxed responses instead
23
Q
What is the central idea of SD?
A
- it is impossible to experience 2 opposite emotions at the same time such as fear and relaxation
- this is called reciprocal inhibition
- if they patient can learn to remain relaxed in the presence of their phobia, they can be cured
- this is called counter conditioning
24
Q
What are the 3 steps involved in SD?
A
- The hierarchy of fear
- Relaxation techniques
- Gradual exposure
25
What is the hierarchy of fear?
- this is constructed by the therapist and the patient
- situations involving the phobic object are ranked from least fearful to most fearful
- for example, if a person has a phobia of snakes the therapist might at first get the patient to merely look at a photo of a snake
- then at a snake in a tank
- until eventually they are asked to hold a snake
26
What are relaxation techniques?
- patients are taught deep muscle relaxations techniques such as deep breathing, progressive muscular relaxation (PMR) and the relaxation response
- when doing these techniques patients are told to sit quietly and comfortably and close their eyes
- they start by relaxing the muscles of their feet and work up their body relaxing muscles
- while doing this they are asked to breathe deeply, meditate and imagine relaxing situations
27
What is PMR?
- the idea behind PMR is to tense up a group of muscles so that they are as tightly contracted as possible
- they are held in a state of extreme tension for a few seconds and then muscles are relaxed to the previous state
- finally, muscles are consciously relaxed even further so that the patient is as relaxed as possible
28
What is gradual exposure?
- patient is introduced to their phobic object gradually and they work their way up the fear hierarchy starting with the least frightening stage
- they must use their relaxation technique whilst they are exposed to their phobic object at each stage
- once they feel comfortable with one stage of the hierarchy they move onto the next stage
- patients are instructed to use the relaxation techniques while exposed to scenarios of rising intensity
- eventually through repeated exposure to phobic objects with relaxation and no fear, the phobia is eliminated
- this process will take many therapy sessions
29
Evaluation of SD +ve
- Jones (1924) supports the use of SD to eradicate ‘Little Peter’s’ phobia
- a white rabbit was presented to Little Peter at gradually closer distances and each time his anxiety levels lessened
- eventually, he developed affection for the white rabbit which extended to all white fluffy objects
- this shows how SD can work to eliminate phobias
= Klosko et al (1990) supports the use of SD
= he assessed various therapies for the treatment of panic disorders and found that 87% were panic free after recieving SD
= compared to 50% receiving medication
= 36% receiving a placebo
= 33% receiving no treatment at all
= therefore, SD is an effective therapy compared to others
- SD is a less traumatic therapy for phobias than other behavioural therapies such as flooding, which is when the patient has to confront their phobias directly
- therefore, SD has less ethical implications than other behavioural therapies and it is less upsetting for the patient to endure
30
Evaluation of SD -ve
- it is not always practical for individuals to be desensitised by confronting real life phobic situations
- real life step by step situations can be difficult to arrange and control
- such as someone being scared of sharks, it can be difficult to apply this phobia to real life situations
- therefore, SD may be very difficult to apply to real life situations and this can question the effectiveness of the therapy
= they address the symptoms of phobias but some critics believe the symptoms are merely the tip of the iceberg and that the underlying causes of the phobia will remain
= and in the future symptoms will return or symptom substitution will occur
= this is when other abnormal behaviours replace the ones that have been removed
31
What does flooding involve?
- directly exposing the phobic patient to their feared object in an immediate situation
- beforehand, the patient is taught relaxation techniques such as deep muscle relaxation, deep breathing, and meditation
- there is no gradual build-up using a fear hierarchy, which involves immediate exposure to a very frightening and extreme situation
- can be done 'in vivo, (irl) or it may be virtual (imagining the situation)
32
How does flooding stop phobic responses?
- stops the responses very quickly
- as the patient does not have the option for any avoidance behaviour; they are not allowed to run away or not face their phobic object
- might quickly learn that the phobic object is harmless, extinction then occurs
- in some cases, they may achieve relaxation in the presence of the phobic object as they are so exhausted by their own fear response
33
Is flooding ethical?
- it is ethical
- although it can cause a great deal of initial psychological harm
- the patient would have to give their fully informed written consent so they are fully prepared for the flooding session
34
Sessions lengths, F+SD:
- flooding therapy sessions usually last 2 to 3 hours, much longer than SD sessions
- but SD requires more sessions
35
Evaluation of flooding +ve:
- cost-effective, especially in comparison to cognitive behavioral therapies which take months or years to work and rid the person of the phobia
- quick therapy for phobias which is useful as patients are free of their symptoms ASAP
- treatment is cost-effective and cheaper
= Ost (1997) stated that flooding is an effective and rapid treatment that delivers immediate improvements for phobic patients
= especially when a patient is encouraged to continue self directed exposure to feared objects and situations outside of the therapy situation
= results can then be applied to everyday life outside of the therapy situation
36
Evaluation of flooding -ve:
- less effective for curing some types of phobias such as social phobia
- may be due to social phobias having more cognitive aspects that flooding cannot address very well
- cognitive therapies may be better
= it is a highly traumatic experience and many patients might be unwilling to continue with the therapy until the end
= time and money may be wasted preparing the patient for flooding experience, and then they decide they do not want to take part or complete the treatment, leaving phobia uncured
= waste of time and money, SD may be better
