Phobia

• Phobia

  An irrational fear of an object or situation
• Behavioural characteristics of phobias

  • Panic: panic in response of phobic stimulus. Crying, screaming and running away.
  • Avoidance: Effort to prevent coming in contact with phobic stimulus.
  • Endurance: Person chooses to remain in presence of phobic stimulus. Keep an eye on a spider.
• Emotional characteristics of phobias

  • Anxiety: emotional response of anxiety which prevents a person from relaxing or experiencing positive emotion. Long-term.
  • Fear: Immediate and unpleasant response experiences because of phobic stimulus. Shorter periods.
  • Unreasonable - much greater than normal response
• Cognitive characteristics of phobia

  • selective attention: phobic stimulus hard to look away from so it is hard to concentrate on anything else.
  • irrational beliefs: irrational thoughts about phobic stimulus that don't have any basis in reality. Belief that a dog will kill you.
  • Cognitive distortions: Perceptions of a person with a phobia may be inaccurate and unrealistic. Snakes look like aliens