Psychopathology - Phobias

    Cards (10)

    • What is a phobia?
      An irrational fear off an abject or situation
      Extent of the fear is out of proportion to any real danger presented by the phobic stimulus
    • What does the DSM recognize as the following categories of phobia?
      Specific phobia - phobia of an object or situation
      Social anxiety - phobia of a social situation
      Agoraphobia - phobia of being outside or in a public place
    • What are the 3 characteristics of phobia explored?
      Behavioural
      Emotional
      Cognitive
    • What do behavioural characteristics of phobia refer to?
      The ways in which people act in response to the phobia
    • What are the 3 behavioural characteristics of phobias?
      Panic - In response to phobic stimulus - involves a range of behaviours including crying & screaming.
      Avoidance - Go to efforts to prevent coming into contact with phobic stimulus. Can make daily life hard interfering with work, education and social life.
      Endurance - alternative to avoidance. Occurs when the person chooses to remain in the presence of the phobic stimulus to keep an eye on it, for example.
    • What do emotional characteristics of phobias refer to?
      The feelings or mood a person is in in response to the phobic stimulus
    • What are the 3 emotional characteristics of phobias?
      • Anxiety - phobias are classed as anxiety disorders (unpleasant state of high arousal). Prevents relaxing and makes it difficult to experience positive emotion
      • Fear - immediate unpleasant response when encountering phobic stimulus. Intense and shorter than anxiety
      • Emotional response is unreasonable - anxiety or fear is not normal and is disproportionate to any threat posed.
    • What do cognitive characteristics of phobias refer to?
      Refers to how people process information including thinking, reasoning and believing
    • What are the 3 cognitive characteristics of phobias?
      • Selective attention to phobic stimulus - keeping attention on phobic stimulus so we have good chance to react quickly to threat
      • Irrational beliefs - can hold unfounded thoughts which can’t be explained and don’t have a basis in reality. Increases pressure on person
      • Cognitive distortions - perceptions of someone with phobia can be inaccurate and unrealistic
    • What is an example of a specific phobia?
      Arachnophobia - spiders
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