Clinical Characteristics

• Phobias

  • Behavioural = avoidance of stimulus/ panic when object or situation is encountered
  • Emotional = excessive and unreasonable feelings of fear or anxiety
  • Cognitive = irrational thinking towards object or situation
• Depression

  • Behavioural = Loss of energy / weight changes [loss or gain] / poor personal hygiene / disturbance in sleep pattern [less or more]
  • Emotional = Loss of enthusiasm / overwhelming feeling of sadness / feelings of worthlessness
  • Cognitive = Inaccurate thoughts / slowed thinking / thoughts of death / poor memory
• OCD

  • Behavioural = Compulsions - aim to reduce the anxiety cased by obsessions. They are a repetitive behaviours such as checking and mental acts e.g. counting, turning on and off lights until it feels right.
  • Emotional = an anxiety disorder
  • Cognitive = Obsessions - recurrent intrusive thoughts that cause anxiety e.g. ideas, doubts, impulses or images. They cannot be controlled, yet the individual is aware they are illogical thoughts (unlike Schizophrenia)