Phobias:

• What is a phobia?

  An irrational fear of an object or situation
• What are the DSM-5 categories of phobia?

  1. specific phobia
  2. Social anxiety (social phobia)
  3. Agoraphobia
• What is a specific phobia?

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

  Phobia of a social situation such as public speaking or using a public toilet
• What is agoraphobia?

  Phobia of being or outside or in a public place
• What are the behavioural characteristics of phobias?

  1. panic
  2. avoidance
  3. endurance
• Panic:

  A person with a phobia 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 react slightly differently, for example by freezing, clinging or having a tantrum
• Avoidance:

  Unless the person is making a conscious effort to face their fear they tend to go to a lot of effort to prevent coming into contact with the phobic stimulus. This can make it hard to go about 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 a toilet. This in turn can interfere with work, education and social life.
• Endurance:

  The alternative behavioural response is endurance. This occurs when the person chooses to remain in the presence of the phobic stimulus. For example, a person with arachnophobia might choose to remain in a room with a spider on the ceiling and keep a wary eye on it rather than leaving.
• What are the three emotional characteristics of phobias?

  1. anxiety
  2. fear
  3. emotional response is unreasonable
• Anxiety:

  Phobias are classed as anxiety disorders. By definition then they involve an emotional response of anxiety, an unpleasant state of high arousal. This prevents a person relaxing and makes it very difficult to experience any positive emotion. Anxiety can be long term.
• Fear:

  Although in everyday speech we might use the terms 'anxiety' and 'fear' interchangeably they do have distinct meanings. Fear is the immediate and extremely unpleasant response we experience when we encounter or think about a phobic stimulus. It is usually more intense but experienced for shorter periods than anxiety.
• Emotional response is unreasonable:

  The anxiety or fear is much greater than is 'normal' and disproportionate to any threat posed. For example, a person with arachnophobia will have a strong emotional response to a tiny spider. Most people would respond in a less anxious way even to a poisonous spider.
• What are the three cognitive characteristics of phobias?

  1. selective attention to the phobic stimulus
  2. irrational beliefs
  3. cognitive distortions
• Selective attention to the phobic stimulus:

  If a person 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 person with pognophobia will struggle to concentrate on what they are doing if there is someone with a beard in the room.
• 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. 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 person to perform well in social situations.
• Cognitive distortions:

  The perceptions of a person with a phobia may be inaccurate and unrealistic. So, for example, someone with mycophobia sees mushrooms as disgusting, and an aphidiophobic may see snakes as alien and aggressive-looking.