Characteristics

• define the term phobia

  A phobia is a type of anxiety disorder, an individual with a phobia has an irrational fear of a situation or object
• One behavioural characteristic of phobias is panic, panic behaviour occurs when a person encounters the phobia stimulus, these may involve screaming, shaking, or running away. It may also involve freezing, fainting or vomiting if individual remains in presence of the phobic situation
• Another behaviour characteristic of phobias is avoidance, phobic sufferers attempt to reduce anxiety by keeping away from phobic situations
• One emotional characteristic of phobias is anxiety, this is an unpleasant state of high arousal caused by an individual encountering their phobic stimulus.
• Another emotional characteristic of phobias is that responses to the phobic stimulus are unreasonable, so the response to the phobic stimulus is seen as wildly disproportionate to the danger.
• One cognitive characteristic of phobias is selective attention, the phobic individual finds it hard to look away from stimulus
• Another cognitive characteristic of phobias is irrational beliefs, the phobic individual may hold unreasonable beliefs in relation to phobic stimulus. they are also resistant to rational arguments