Phobias

• Phobias:

  • a phobia is described as an anxiety disorder. It is an irrational and extreme fear or an object, situation, or activity, which is disproportionate to the actual danger/risk it gives
  • a characteristics is a symptom of a psychological disorder, which can be categorised in 3 types; behavioural (how the individual acts and their observable behaviours), emotional (how the individual feels) and finally, cognitive (how the individual thinks and their internal mental thought processes)
• Behavioural characteristics of phobias:

  • panic - being unable to avoid a phobia this causes panic. This is physically displayed through behaviour such as crying, shaking, screaming or running away
  • avoidance behaviours - someone with a phobia alters their behaviour to actively avoid situations where they may encounter their phobic object or situation. For example if someone had a phobia of a certain animal they may avoid the zoo
• Emotional characteristics of phobias:

  • anxiety and fear - there is a high state of emotional arousal when exposed to the phobic object
  • emotional responses are unreasonable - the level of anxiety towards the phobic object or situation are disproportionate to the risk it gives e.g. fear towards a tiny insect that could not hurt them
• Cognitive characteristics of phobias:

  • irrational beliefs - illogical thinking about the phobic object or situation. For example, a person with arachnophobia may believe that all spiders are dangerous and deadly, even though this is not the case in the UK
  • cognitive distortions - this is a misrepresentation of thought. When people view things differently from the majority view e.g. dogs are out to attack them
• The behavioural approach to explaining phobias:

  • the behavioural approach suggests that all behaviour is learned and therefore phobias are learned
  • this happens via the two-process model (Mowrer)
  • the two-process model is a two-stage theory: we acquire a phobia due to classical conditioning and it is maintained by operant conditioning
• The behavioural approach to explaining phobias:

  • stage 1 - phobias are acquired through classical conditioning, when we associate an object with a frightening experience / anxiety
  • stage 2 - phobias are maintained through operant conditioning, when we avoid the phobic object and are therefore avoiding something unpleasant. This negatively reinforces the avoidant behaviour, repeating the avoidance of the phobic object
• Example of the behavioural approach to explain phobias:

  • if someone is attacked by a dog when they are young, then they may start to associate all dogs with anxiety. They then avoid parks, which will negatively reinforce the avoidance of dogs
  • the process of acquiring a phobia had been supported by the Little Albert study by Watson and Rayner; where he was repeatedly exposed to a pairing between a white rat and a loud noise, eventually associating all white objects with fear
• Evaluation of the behavioural explanation of phobias:

  S - empirical evidence: Watson and Rayner

  S - practical application

  W - evidence to contradict: Menzies and Clark

  W - ignores biological preparedness
• Empirical evidence: Watson and Rayner (identify):

  • a strength of the behavioural explanation of phobias is that there is empirical evidence to support the acquisition of phobias from Watson and Rayner's Little Albert study
• Empirical evidence: Watson and Rayner (explain):

  • Watson and Rayner conducted a lab experiment manipulating exposure to a phobic object and measuring the observed behavioural characteristics
  • in Watson and Rayner's study, Little Albert, an infant with no previous phobias, was presented with a white rat, which was paired with a loud, scary noise
  • eventually, he associated the rat with the noise and became afraid of the rat
  • this phobia was then generalised to other white, fluffy objects, resulting in a fear response
• Empirical evidence: Watson and Rayner (conclusion):

  • this adds validity to the two-process explanation of phobias because research can establish a cause and effect relationship between phobic objects and behavioural characteristics, as research takes place in an environment which controls extraneous variables, making it falsifiable
• Practical application (identify):

  • a strength of the behavioural explanation of phobias is that it has led to the development of effective treatments - systematic desensitisation and flooding
• Practical application (explain):

  • systematic desensitisation and flooding work by using behaviourist principles of classical and operant conditioning to help people unlearn their phobias and create new association with the 'phobic stimuli' and relaxation rather than anxiety
  • it has been found to be effective at treating phobias for many patients
• Practical application (conclusion):

  • this adds to the validity of the two-process explanation of phobias because it has been used to develop a treatment for phobias, meaning it has had a positive impact on society
  • this shows that the explanation is accurate as the treatment it is based on is effective
  • for example, someone with agoraphobia may not leave the house and may struggle to work, so this would be beneficial to their wellbeing and have positive implications for the economy
• Evidence to contradict: Menzies and Clark (identify):

  • a weakness of the behavioural explanation of phobias is there's evidence to contradict
• Evidence to contradict: Menzies and Clark (explain):

  • research has found that many people with phobias have not had a fearful experience of the phobic object in the past
  • Menzies and Clark found that only 2% of children who have a phobia of water have had a frightening experience with water in the past
• Evidence to contradict: Menzies and Clark (conclusion):

  • this questions the population validity of the two-process model as an explanation of phobias because it suggests that we may not acquire and learn phobias through classical conditioning and association so it lacks explanatory power
  • therefore, there may be other more important factors that are involved in the development of phobias, such as our cognitions
  • if we think irrationally, we may behave irrationally, which could better explain phobic behaviour
• Ignores biological preparedness (identify):

  • a weakness of the behavioural explanation of phobias is that there are alternative explanations
• Ignores biological preparedness (explain):

  • research has indicated that conditioning is not the only way fears are acquired, some phobias have evolutionary aspect
  • specific phobias, such as snakes, spiders and dangerous heights are all things that can potentially be deadly
  • biological preparedness makes it so that people tend to form fear associations with these threatening objects
  • because of that fear, people tend to avoid those possible dangers, making it more likely that they will survive
• Ignores biological preparedness (counterargument):

  • a better explanation of phobias considers both biology and environmental factors such as the diathesis stress model
  • this states that while biology may pre-dispose someone to phobias (through biological preparedness or hereditary phobias from parents), environmental stress factors also need to be present (such as having a frightening experience with a phobic object) for the symptoms to manifest and present as a disorder
  • it is therefore a combination of nature and nurture
• The behavioural approach to treating phobias:

  • the therapies work on the assumption that phobias have been learned and so they can be unlearned
  • there are 2 behavioural therapies; systematic desensitisation and flooding
• Systematic desensitisation:

  • systematic desensitisation is a behavioural therapy that uses classical conditioning to learn a new association between the phobic object and the response
  • it works by replacing fear and anxiety with relaxation - as they believe you cannot experience these at the same time
• Systematic desensitisation:

  there are 3 stages;

  • 1 - the patient/client and therapist work together to construct a hierarchy of fears with the lowest fear at the bottom and the biggest fear at the top (summit)
  • 2 - the client is provided with relaxation training in which they learn how to engage in deep muscle relaxation
  • 3 - the patient is gradually introduced to their phobic object / situation
• Systematic desensitisation:

  stage 3 includes;

  • the therapist and client pair each level of the hierarchy with relaxation until they are completely relaxed at each exposure and then more on to the next level
  • once at the top of the hierarchy, and the most feared step is responded to with relaxation, treatment is complete
  • this works through a behaviourist processes of counter conditioning where the patient has learnt a new response to the phobic object via association, replacing the fear with relaxation
  • it works on the principle of reciprocal inhibition where the patient can't be relaxed and scared at the same time
• Flooding:

  • flooding is a behavioural therapy which 'throws people in at the deep end' of their biggest fear
  • it involves immediate exposure with the phobic object
  • this leads to the prevention of avoidance
  • the patient will eventually calm and extinguish the association, therefore replacing the fear with a relaxation response
• Evaluation of treatments of phobias:

  S - there is evidence to support: Lang and Lazovik

  W - not useful for treating all phobias

  S - systematic desensitisation is less traumatic than flooding

  S - comparison with other treatments
• There is evidence to support: Lang and Lazovik (identify):

  • a strength of the behavioural treatments of phobias is that there is evidence to show the effectiveness of systematic desensitisation as a treatment for phobias
• There is evidence to support: Lang and Lazovik (explain):

  • evidence from Lang and Lazovik (1963) studied 24 people with snake phobias and compared them with a control group of people with similar phobias who did not undertake systematic desensitisation
  • they found that those who had undergone systematic desensitisation displayed less avoidance to snakes when presented with the and reported fewer phobic feelings (via self-report methods)
  • this improvement remained six months later
• There is evidence to support: Lang and Lazovik (conclusion):

  • this adds to the effectiveness of systematic desensitisation as a behavioural treatment of phobias as it demonstrates the systematic desensitisation has a long-term impact in reducing behavioural symptoms, through creating new associations
  • therefore suggesting that the anxiety disorder is learnt and can be unlearnt
  • however self-report methods are not valid
• Not useful for treating all phobias (identify):

  • a weakness of the behavioural treatments of phobias is that flooding is not effective for all types of phobias
• Not useful for treating all phobias (explain):

  • it works very well for specific phobias (e.g. a fear of objects or animals like spiders or heights)
  • however it is much more difficult to use to treat other phobias, for example social phobias
  • this is because social phobias are usually accompanied by irrational thoughts which flooding fails to treat
  • also, due to that dangerous nature of some phobias, immediate exposure would not be appropriate for ethical reasons
• Not useful for treating all phobias (conclusion):

  • therefore, this questions the effectiveness of behavioural treatments as a treatment of phobias, as the treatment cannot successfully treat all phobias, so there may be better treatments that are universal for all individual's symptoms
• Systematic desensitisation is less traumatic than flooding (identify):

  • an advantage of systematic desensitisation over flooding is that it is less traumatic
• Systematic desensitisation is less traumatic than flooding (explain):

  • the main aim of systematic desensitisation as a treatment of phobias is to use gradual exposure, replacing anxiety with relaxation. This means there is less of a chance of psychological harm caused by the treatment, as the therapist and client build a rapport and go at their own pace
  • flooding on the other hand uses immediate exposure to the phobic stimuli with no build up, so may create elevated levels of distress for the patient
• Systematic desensitisation is less traumatic than flooding (conclusion):

  • therefore, this adds to the appropriateness of systematic desensitisation because it protects participants from harm, making it more ethical, so clients are more likely to undergo this treatment
• Comparison with other treatments (identify):

  • a strength of behavioural treatments of phobias is that they are more accessible than other therapies
• Comparison with other treatments (explain):

  • both flooding and systematic desensitisation work by learning a new behaviour, for example creating an anxiety hierarchy and learning relaxation techniques
  • it does not require changing your entire thought process like other therapies such as CBT
  • as these steps are less cognitively demanding, it means many people can complete this treatment, including young children or those with learning difficulties, who otherwise may struggle to understand their own emotions / irrational thoughts
• Comparison with other treatments (conclusion):

  • this adds to the appropriateness of systematic desensitisation because it is more widely accessible to a range of patients, making it a beneficial treatment for clinicians to offer on the NHS