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psychopathology
phobias
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lydia๐ต๐ฑ
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What is a phobia?
A phobia is an
anxiety
disorder, an irrational and
extreme
fear which is
disproportionate
to the actual danger/risk it gives.
3 main categories of phobias:
specific
phobia
social
phobia
agoraphobia
Behavioural characteristics of phobias:
panic
avoidance
Emotional characteristics of phobias:
anxiety/fear
emotional responses are
unreasonable
Cognitive characteristics of phobias:
irrational
beliefs
cognitive
distortions
Main assumptions:
abnormality is
learnt
like normal behaviour
we
learn
to have a phobia
known as the two-process model suggested by
Mowrer
we learn a phobia by
association
and
reinforcement
Two process model:
it is a
two
stage theory
we
aquire
a phobia due to classical conditioning and
maintain
it by operant conditioning
Evaluation of the behavioural explanations of phobias:
๐
empirical
evidence
(Little Albert study)
๐
Practical
application
โน๏ธ Evidence to
contradict
โน๏ธ Ignores
biological
preparedness
Systematic desensitisation:
gradually
introducing the patient to the phobia
replacing fear and anxiety with
relaxation
works in
3
stages
Evaluation of systematic desensitisation:
๐ Evidence to
support
(Lang and Lazovik)
๐ Requires
less
effort than cognitive therapies
๐
Ethical
approach to therapy
โน๏ธ Only treats symptoms not the
cause
Flooding:
immediate
exposure
to the phobia
can be
in-vitro
or
in-vivo
prevents
avoidance
this is done until they are
calm,
anxiety is receded and fear is extinguished
sessions last
longer
than SD but it is only
one
session
How does flooding work?
shows the patient that the phobic object is
harmless
or they become
calm
around the phobic object because they cannot experience fear for prolonged periods of time
so overcome their phobia through
counterconditioning
Evaluation of flooding:
๐
Cost
and
time
effective
โน๏ธ Not useful for treating
all
phobias
โน๏ธ
Unethical
approach to therapy