characteristics of phobias, depression and OCD

• social phobia - fear of social situations
• specific phobia - intense fear of specific object or situation
• phobias 


  • behavioural (act/do) - phobic object / situation is actively avoided
  • emotional (feel) - out of proportion feelings of anxiety
  • cognitive (think) - irrational thinking
• depression


  • behavioural (act/do) - eating more or less, sleeping more or less, stop doing activities they once enjoyed
  • emotional (feel) - low mood, guilt, worthlessness
  • cognitive (think) - diminished ability to think / concentrate, indecisiveness, thoughts of death
• OCD


  • behavioural (act/do) - attempts to supress / neutralise intrusive thoughts, repetitive behaviours / rules performing in response to an obsession
  • emotional (feel) - clinically significant distress
  • cognitive (think) - obsessive and intrusive thoughts
• symptoms need to last a fortnight, if not for longer
• DSM (diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders)


  • produced by american psychiatric association
  • contains a list of symptoms for each disorder and guidelines for clinicians to make a diagnosis
• ICD (international classification of diseases)


  • produced by the world health organisation
  • both physical and mental illnesses, aims to classify all diseases worldwide