specific phobia Flashcards
specific phobia
- persistent irrational intense fear of a particular object or event
- interference with a person’s social functioning
four types of specific phobia
- animal phobias (fear of snakes)
- natural environment phobias (fear of heights)
- situation phobias (fear of enclosed spaces)
- blood injection injury phobia (fear of medical procedures)
mental health continuum of specific phobia
- healthy
- reacting
- injured
- disorder
‘healthy’ stage
- fear in a normal range
- if a fear of spiders, they might ask a friend to catch it
- socially active
- physically well
‘reacting’ stage
- common and reversible distress
- procrastination
- trouble sleeping
‘injured’ stage
- phobic symptoms impact their functioning
- avoidance behaviours
- decreased performance
‘disorder’ stage
- mental disorder that requires significant intervention
- unable to fall asleep
- isolation
mean age for selected phobias
animal - 7
blood - 9
dental - 12
claustrophobia - 20
biological factors that contribute to the maintenance of specific phobia
- FFF response
- GABA and glutamate
- genetic predisposition and inherited vulnerabilities
FFF response
- elevated blood pressure
- palpitations
role of amygdala and hippocampus
amygdala
- initiating and processing emotional responses such as fear
hippocampus
- formation of declarative memories
GABA and glutamate
- if a person has low levels of GABA and high levels of glutamate, increases agitation and anxiety and contribute to the development of a specific phobia
genetic predisposition and inherited vulnerabilities
- not the phobia but the genetic makeup, e.g. being born with low levels of GABA
- or personality; person who is apprehensive about environmental objects and events are more likely to develop the phobia
long term potentiation
- experience the phobia, strengthened amygdala-hippocampus neural pathway resulting in LTP
- thus the phobic response is easier to trigger in the future
precipitation of specific phobia through classical conditioning
- learnt through classical conditioning and maintained by operant conditioning
- we can develop fear to a neutral stimulus because we are conditioned to associate it with fear
precipitation of specific phobia through operant conditioning
- avoidance behaviour is a negative reinforcer strengthening the likelihoof of that behaviour being repeated
cognitive bias
- systematic error in thinking that affects the decisions and judgements that people make
memory bias
- inaccurate encoding of memory
- thus every time a person thinks of it, it is usually more catastrophic than it really is
catastrophic thinking
- worst case scenario
- overestimates the threat
attentional bias
- preference for noticing threat relevant information as they remain more alert to their environment
environmental triggers
- direct exposure
- witnessing other people
- reading or hearing about it
parental modelling
- transmission of threat information
stigma around seeking treatment
- due to embarrassment, shame, distress are less likely to seek assistance
anti anxiety treatment
- anti anxiety drugs that mimic GABA’s inhibitory effects
- usually sufficient
breathing retraining
- under stress, over breathe (hyperventilation)
- taught slow breathing techniques to manage effects of hyperventilation
exercise
- during stress, stress hormones and glucose are released into the blood stream and if we are not physically active, likely to experience hand tremors
CBT specific phobia
- verbal and behavioural modifications
- focuses on helping a person change negative dysfunctional thoughts and replace with more positive realistic ones
CBT process
Normally
- exposed to object or situation (stimulus), negative thought slead to an emotional (distress) and biological (FFF) response, alters behaviour (actively avoids the object or situation)
- in CBT, recognise unrealistic and based on incorrect assumptions and are taught to monitor their negative thoughts in an ‘automatic thought diary’.
systematic desensitisation
- assumption that it is developed through classical conditioning, and can be achieved through counter conditioning or weakening the associated between the conditioned stimulus and conditioned response
3 steps of systematic desensitisation
- deep muscle relaxation
- client makes a list of anxiety causing stimuli that are linked to their specific phobia from least to most
- client works through hierarchy, learning to remain relaxed while imagining each stimuli; repeated until no anxiety
SD effectiveness
- less effective for performance fears
psychoeducation
- educating sufferer of the mental disorder and help dispel any myths
- have cooperation of family and friends
ways of psychoeducation
- do not encourage avoidance behaviour
- encourage positive thinking
- provide evidence to help with catastrophic thinking
