phobias

Cards (13)

  • 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:
    ๐Ÿ™‚ empirical evidence (Little Albert study)
    ๐Ÿ™‚ Practical application
    โ˜น๏ธ Evidence to contradict
    โ˜น๏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:
    ๐Ÿ™‚ Evidence to support (Lang and Lazovik)
    ๐Ÿ™‚ Requires less effort than cognitive therapies
    ๐Ÿ™‚ Ethical approach to therapy
    โ˜น๏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:
    ๐Ÿ™‚ Cost and time effective
    โ˜น๏ธ Not useful for treating all phobias
    โ˜น๏ธ Unethical approach to therapy