phobias

• DSM-5 – classification manual of mental disorders (used in US)

  • Classifies over 200 mental disorders and groups them in terms of their most common features
• A phobia is characterised by excessive fear and anxiety triggered by an object, place or situation. The extent of the fear is out of proportion to any real danger presented.

  • Specific phobia – phobia of an object/animal/situation
  • Social phobia – phobia of social situations
  • Agoraphobia – phobia of being outside
• 1. anxiety
  2. fear

  
• 1. anxiety
  2. fear
  3. unreasonable
  4. panic
  5. avoidance
  6. endurance
  7. selective attention
  8. irrational beliefs
  9. cognitive distortions

  
• emotional characteristics

  Anxiety

  • Emotional response of anxiety and an unpleasant high state of arousal

  Fear

  • Immediate and unpleasant feeling when we encounter/think about the phobic stimulus. Usually more intense than anxiety

  Unreasonable

  • Anxiety and fear are disproportionate to the threat posed
• behavioural characteristics

  Panic

  • Can involve a range of behaviours e.g. crying, screaming, running away, freezing

  Avoidance

  • Person goes to a lot of effort to avoid phobic stimulus, potentially making everyday life difficult.

  Endurance

  • A person may choose to remain in the presence of the phobic stimulus rather than avoiding it e.g. staying in the room with a spider to keep an eye on it
• cognitive characteristics

  Selective attention

  • It is hard to move our attention away from the phobic stimulus and it takes up or thoughts

  Irrational beliefs

  • Person may hole unfounded thoughts towards the phobic stimulus which can’t be easily explained/have no basis in reality

  Cognitive distortions

  • The perception of a person with a phobia may be inaccurate and unrealistic
• The behavioural approach emphasises the role of learning in the development of behaviours.

  It therefore suggests that phobias are learnt.
• The two processes model is based on the behavioural approach to phobias. Suggests phobias are learnt through classical conditioning and then continue because of operant conditioning.

  • Classical conditioning
  • Operant condition
• Operant conditioning = behaviour is reinforced or punished

  Negative reinforcement

  • Person avoids the phobic stimulus
  • results in a desirable consequence (escape fear and anxiety)
  • makes the behaviour (avoidance of phobic stimulus) more likely to reoccur
• Two process model has real-world application in exposure therapies (e.g. systematic desensitisation) and explains why these therapies are effective in treating phobias through exposure to the stimulus.

  Shows the value of the two process approach as it provides a means of treating phobias
• The two process model does not consider the cognitive aspects of phobias e.g. irrational thoughts around the phobic stimulus. It therefore doesn’t explain phobic cognitions, just behaviours.

  Two process model does not completely explain the symptoms of phobias, such as cognitive aspects
• Little albert demonstrates how a frightening experience can lead to a phobia of that stimulus. Further evidence found 73% of people with a fear of dental treatment had experienced a traumatic event linked to dentistry.

  Supports the association between stimulus and an unconditioned response leading to the development of the phobia.
• not all phobias develop after a bad experience and some of the most common fears e.g. snakes, occur in populations with little experience of that stimulus. Vice versa, not all frightening experiences lead to phobias.

  The association between phobias and frightening experiences is not as strong as we would expect if behavioural explanations were complete explanations.