phobias

• Phobia

  An irrational fear of an object or situation
• Behavioural

  Ways in which people act
• Emotional

  Related to a person's feelings or mood
• Cognitive

  Refers to the process of 'knowing', including thinking, reasoning, remembering, believing
• How are all phobias characterised?

  • By excessive fear and anxiety, triggered by an object, place or situation
  • The extent of the fear is out of proportion to any real danger presented by the phobic stimulus
• Specific phobia

  Phobia of an object, such as an animal or body part, or a situation such as flying or having an injection
• Social anxiety (social phobia)

  phobia of a social situation such as public speaking or using a public toilet
• Agoraphobia

  phobia of being outside or in a public place
• Emotional characteristics of phobias

  • Anxiety
  • Fear
  • Unreasonable emotional response
• Anxiety

  an unpleasant state of high arousal, which prevents a person relaxing and makes it very difficult to experience any positive emotion (can be long term)
• Fear

  immediate and extremely unpleasant response we experience when we encounter or think about a phobic stimulus, usually more intense but experienced for shorter periods than anxiety
• Unreasonable emotional response

  anxiety or fear is much greater than is 'normal' and disproportionate to any threat posed
• Cognitive characteristics of phobias

  • Selective attention to the phobic stimulus
  • Irrational beliefs
  • Cognitive distortions
• Irrational beliefs:

  A person with a phobia may hold unfounded thoughts in relation to phobic stimuli, i.e. that can't easily be explained and don't have any basis in reality
• Cognitive distortions:

  The perceptions of a person with a phobia may be inaccurate and unrealistic.