panic - may include crying, screaming or running away
avoidance - when a person is faced with the object or situation which creates the fear, the immediate response is to avoid it in order to reduce the chances of such anxiety responses occurring, can make it hard to go about daily life
endurance - they may continue to be in the presence of the phobic stimulus but experience high levels of anxiety
Emotional Characteristics
anxiety
emotional responses are unreasonable - the emotional responses we experience in relation to phobic stimuli are disproportionate to the danger posed by the phobic stimulus
Cognitive Characteristics
selective attention to the source of the phobia
irrational beliefs
cognitive distortions - their perceptions of the phobic stimuli may be distorted (e.g. snakes as alien and aggressive looking)
