Phobias

• A phobia is a persistent, extreme and irrational fear of a specific object or situation, characterized by high levels of anxiety that disrupts everyday life
• Phobia vs regular fear

  fear experienced with a phobia is out of proportion to any real danger proposed by the stimulus and affects daily life
• Behavioral characteristics of phobias:

  • Panic (e.g. crying, screaming)
  • Avoidance
  • Endurance - when a person is unable to escape their phobic object, the sufferer will continue to experience high levels of anxiety
• Emotional characteristics of phobias:

  • Anxiety - an unpleasant state of high arousal, which prevents relaxation
  • Fear
• Cognitive characteristics of phobias:

  • Selective attention - A person will concentrate only on their phobia, nothing else
  • Irrational beliefs (e.g. a house spider could kill them)
  • Cognitive distortions (e.g. you see the object or situation in a different way to others)
• There are 3 categories of phobia:

  • Specific
  • Social
  • Agoraphobia
• Specific phobias are a fear and avoidance of a particular object or situation. There are 4 subtypes of specific phobias:

  • Animal
  • Natural Environment
  • Blood, injection & energy
  • Situational (e.g. driving)
• Social phobias are an extreme fear of humiliation, embarrassment and fear of being judged in social situations.

  • Fear of specific social situations e.g. using public toilets or eating in public
  • Fear of general social situations e.g. fear of social interactions or initiating conversations
• Agoraphobia is the fear of being outside or in a public place
• Behavioral approach to explaining phobias:

  The two-process model (Mowrer, 1960) suggests how phobias are learnt:

  Acquisition through classical conditioning

  Maintenance through operant conditioning