Phobias

• Phobia:

  Phobias belong in the category of anxiety disorders in the DSM-5.

  Phobias are characterised by excessive fear and anxiety, triggered by an object, place or by a specific situation.
• The extent of fear is out of proportion to any real type pf danger posed by the stimulus.
• The DSM-5 recognises the following types of phobias:

  • Specific phobias- Phobia of an object.
  • Social Phobias- Phobia of Social Situations.
  • Agoraphobia- Fear of open spaces.
• What is are the behavioural characteristics of a Phobia?


  Panic

  Endurance

  Avoidance
• Panic:

  A phobic person may panic in response to the presence of the phobic stimulus. Panic may involve a range of behaviours including crying, screaming or running away. Children may have different reactions, for example by freezing, clinging or having a tantrum.
• Endurance:

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

  This may be unavoidable in some situations, for example for a person who has an extreme fear of flying.
• Avoidance:

  Unless the sufferer is making a conscious effort to face their fear they tend to go to a lot of effort to avoid coming into contact with the phobic stimulus. This can make it hard to go daily life.

  For example, someone with a fear of public toilets may have to limit the time they spend outside the home in relation to how long they can last without the toilet.

  This in turn can interfere with work, education and social life.
• What are the emotional characteristics of phobias?


  Emotional responses are unreasonable.

  Anxiety.

  Example: Archanophobia.
• Emotional responses are unreasonable:

  The emotional responses we experience in relation to phobic stimuli go beyond what is reasonable. So, for example Matt's fear of spiders involves a very strong emotional response to a tiny and harmless spider. This is wildly disproportionate to the danger posed by any spider Matt is likely to meet in his shed.
• Anxiety:

  Phobias are classed as anxiety disorders.

  By definition then they involve an emotional response of anxiety and fear.

  Anxiety is an unpleasant state of high arousal.

  This prevents the sufferer relaxing and makes it very difficult to experience any positive emotion.

  Anxiety can be long term.

  Fear is the immediate and extremely unpleasant response we experience when we encounter or think about the phobic stimulus.
• Example: Arachnophobia

  Matt has a phobia of spiders( arachnophobia). His anxiety levels will increase whether he enters a place associated with spiders- this may be the spidery bit of the zoo or his own garden shed!

  This anxiety is a general response to the situation.

  When he actually sees the spider, he experiences fear- a very strong emotion directed towards the spider itself.
• What are the cognitive characteristics of phobias?

  Cognitive distortions.

  Irrational beliefs.

  Selective attention to the phobic stimulus.
• Cognitive distortions:

  The phobic's perceptions of the phobic stimulus may be distorted.

  So, for example an omphalophobic is likely to see belly buttons as ugly and/or disgusting and an ophidiophobic may see snakes as aliens and aggressive looking.
• Irrational beliefs:

  A phobic may hold irrational beliefs in relation to phobic stimuli.

  For example, social phobias can involve beliefs like 'I must always sound intelligent' or 'if I blush people will think I'm weak.' This kind of belief increases the pressure on the sufferer to perform well in social situations.
• Selective attention to the phobic stimulus:

  If a sufferer can see the phobic stimulus it is hard to look away from it. Keeping our attention on something really dangerous is a good thing as it gives us the best chance of reacting quickly to a threat, but this is not so useful when the fear is irrational. A pogonophobic will struggle to concentrate in what they are doing if there is someone with a beard in the room.
• Panic and running away is a behavioural characteristic.
• Anxiety is an emotional characteristic of phobias.