Phobias

• Define a phobia


  Irrational fear of an object or situation
• Outline the 3 categories that phobias can fall into


  -specific

  -agoraphobia

  -social anxiety disorder
• Outline the 5 categories of specific phobias


  -animal(spiders)

  -environmental dangers(water)

  -blood injection injury(needles)

  -situational(heights/enclosed spaces)

  -other
• Define agoraphobia


  -phobia of being outside or open spaces

  -specifically linked to the fear of not being able to escape if a fearful situation arises

  -sufferer avoids situation to avoid distress 
• Define social anxiety disorder(social phobia) 


  -fear of being in social situations

  -down to the fear of being judged or embarrassed
• Outline the cognitive symptoms of phobias 


  -irrational beliefs about the stimulus that causes fear

  -selective attention: attention is held on the phobic stimuli meaning sufferer cannot conc on anything else

  -cognitive distortions: phobic's perception of the phobic stimuli may be distorted
• Outline behavioural symptoms of phobias

  -avoidance : avoiding coming into contact with phobic stimuli .

  -endurance: when sufferer continues to experience high anxiety levels when in presence of phobic stimuli

  -panic in response to phobic stimuli
• Outline the physical symptons of phobias


  -activation of f and f response when the feared object is encountered or thought about
• Outline the emotional symptoms of phobias


  -anxiety: prevents sufferer from relaxing

  -fear: immediate and extremely unpleasant response when in presence of phobic stimuli

  -unreasonable: disproportionate response to potentially harmless stimuli
• What is the Dsm criteria of a phobia


  -there's significant prolonged fear of an object or situation THAT LASTS MORE THAN 6 MONTHS

  -people experience an anxiety response when exposed to phobia stimuli

  -phobias are out of proportion to any actual danger

  -sufferers go out of there way to avoid the phobic stimulus

  -phobia disrupts their lives