Characteristics

• Behavioural Characteristics:

  • Avoidance
  • Freeze/faint
  • Panic - Crying, screaming, having a tantrum
• Emotional Characteristics:

  • Feelings of anxiety and panic
  • These feelings are out of proportion to the actual danger posed
• Cognitive characteristics:

  • Selective attention to the phobic stimulus (hard to look away from it/can't concentrate on other things)
  • Irrational beliefs
  • Recognises fear is excessive and unreasonable