phobias

• • Phobias are included in the DSM5 within the category of anxiety disorders.
  • Phobias are defined as irrational fears that produce an avoidance of the feared object or situation.
• DSM5 categorizes phobias into 3 main types:

  • Specific Phobias: include animal phobias and situational type phobias (e.g. planes, lifts etc)
  • Social Phobia: excessive fear of social situations (e.g. eating in public or going into a public lavatory)
  • Agoraphobia: fear of public places, thought to be the most serious of all phobias
• Behavioural Characteristics of Phobias:

  • Panic: in the presence of the phobic stimulus, may involve crying, screaming or running away
  • Avoidance: tend to avoid coming into contact with the phobic stimulus
  • Endurance: remain in the presence of the phobic stimulus but continue to experience high levels of anxiety
• Emotional Characteristics of Phobias:

  • Anxiety: prevents relaxation and experiencing positive emotions, fear is the immediate and extremely unpleasant response when encountering the phobic stimulus
  • Emotional responses are inappropriate to the situation: too extreme and disproportionate to the danger posed by the phobic stimuli
• Cognitive Characteristics of Phobias:

  • Decrease in concentration: find it difficult to concentrate and complete tasks when the phobic object or situation is around
  • Irrational beliefs: may hold irrational beliefs in relation to phobic stimuli, increasing pressure to perform well in social situations