Phobias

• behavioural characteristics of phobias

  panic

  avoidance

  endurance
• panic


  a person with a phobia may panic in response to the presence of the phobic stimulus. panic may involve a range of behaviours including crying, screaming or running away. children may react differently, for example by freezing, clinging, or having a tantrum.
• avoidance

  unless the person is making a conscious effort to face their fear they tend to go to a lot of effort to prevent coming into contact with phobic stimulus. this can make it hard to go go about daily life.
• endurance


  this occurs when the person chooses to remain in the presence of the phobic stimulus. for example a person with arachnophobia might choose to remain in a room with a spider on the ceiling and keep a wary eye on it rather than leaving.
• emotional characteristics of phobias

  anxiety

  fear

  emotional response is unreasonable
• anxiety


  an unpleasant state of high arousal. this prevents a person from relaxing and makes it very difficult to experience any positive emotion. anxiety can be long-term.
• fear


  is the immediate and extremely unpleasant response we experience when we encounter or think about phobic stimulus. it is usually more intense but experience for shorter periods than anxiety.
• emotional response is unreasonable

  the anxiety or fear is much greater than is 'normal' and disproportionate to any threat posed. for example, a person with arachnophobia will have a strong emotional response to a tiny spider. most people would respond in a less anxious way even to a poisonous spider.
• cognitive characteristics of phobias

  selective attention to the phobic stimulus

  irrational beliefs

  cognitive distortions
• selective attention to the phobic stimulus

  if a person can see the phobic stimulus it is hard to look away from it. keeping our attention on something really dangerous is a good thing as it gives us the best chance of reacting quickly to a threat, but this is not useful when the fear is irrational.
• irrational beliefs

  a person with a phobia may hold unfounded thoughts in relation to phobic stimuli, i.e. that can't easily be explained and don't have any basis in reality. for example, social phobias can involve beliefs like 'if i blush people will think im weak'. this kind of belief increases the pressure on the person to perform well in social settings.
• cognitive distortions

  the perceptions of a person with a phobia may be inaccurate and unrealistic. for example, someone with mycophobia sees mushrooms as disgusting.