Characteristics of phobias

• Classification and diagnosis

  Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)

  There are a number of systems for classifying and diagnosing mental health problems.

  The best known of these is the DSM

  The DSM is updated every so often as ideas about abnormality change.

  The current version is in its 5th edition (DSM- 5TR) – this was published in 2022
• Mental disorders

  According to the health charity, Mind (www.mind.org.uk) , one in four people in the UK experience a mental health problem this year 

  Depression, phobias and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are three of the most common mental disorders.

  Prevalence: 

  • Phobias = 2%
  • Depression = 8% 
  • OCD = 2%
• Phobias: Definitions and symptoms

  The word ‘phobia’ comes from the Greek Phobos, who was the God of fear.

  A phobia may be defined as ‘A persistent and unreasonable fear of a particular object, activity or situation’ (Comer 2008)

  This definition highlights that almost anything can become a phobia.
• Phobias: Definitions and symptoms 

  The key characteristics of phobias are that they are extreme fears, which are disproportionate to the actual danger, and lead to avoidance of the object or situation. 
• Phobias - Diagnostic features

  Intense, persistent, irrational fear a particular object, event or situation.

  Response is disproportionate and leads to avoidance of phobic object, event or situation.

  Fear is severe enough to interfere with everyday life. 

  Condition may or may not be accompanied by panic attacks
• DSM 5 categories of phobias

  The DSM recognises the following categories of phobias:

  • SPECIFIC PHOBIAS, of animals, events (flying), bodily (blood), situations (enclosed places).
  • SOCIAL PHOBIAS, of social situations, public speaking, parties, meeting new people.
  • AGORAPHOBIA, of public crowded places (not open spaces), of leaving safety of home

  All phobias are more common in women than men, in particular agoraphobia. 

  Social phobia is most prevalent in adolescence and agoraphobia in middle age.
• Signs and symptoms of a phobic sufferer

  Behavioural: How a person acts (behaves) around the feared object or situation which is likely to be varying states of panic leading to avoidance.

  Emotional: How a person feels when experiencing anxiety – anxiety is an unpleasant state of high arousal. This makes it very difficult to relax or experience positive emotions. 

  Cognitive: How a person thinks about phobic stimuli, in particular, the irrational processing of information and the resistance to rational arguments.