Phobias: Psychopathology

• AO1 - Categories of Phobias


  -Specific phobias- phobia of an object such as animals, body parts, flying or an injection

  -Social anxiety- phobia of a social situation

  -Agoraphobia- fear of being outside/in a public place
• AO1 - Behaviour characteristics of phobias


  -panic

  Response to phobic stimuli. Person may cry, scream or run away. Children may freeze, cling or have a tantrum

  -Avoidance

  Tend to make an effort to avoid the phobic stimuli. E.g person with fear of public toilets may limit their time spent away from home in relation to how long they can last without a toilet

  -Endurance

  Sufferer remains in the presence of the phobic stimuli but continues to experience high levels of anxiety. E.g someone with a fear of flying will stay on the plane.
• AO1 - Emotional characteristics of phobias


  Emotional characteristics of phobias

  -Anxiety

  An unpleasant state of high arousal, prevents relaxation and makes it difficult to experience a positive emotion. e.g a person with arachnaphobia will have increased anxiety levels when entering a place associated with spiders.

  -Our emotional responses we experience in relation to the phobic stimuli go beyond what is reasonable
• AO1 - Cognitive characteristics of phobias


  Selective attention to phobic stimulus:

  -If a sufferer can see the phobic stimulus its hard to look away from it.

  -Keeping our attention on something dangerous is good as it gives us the chance to react quickly to a threat but not so useful when the fear is irrational.

  Irrational beliefs:

  - May hold irrational beliefs to the phobic stimuli e..g people with social phobias can involve beliefs like 'i must always sound intelligent' which increases pressure on the sufferer to perform well in social situations

  Cognitive distortions:

  Phobics perceptions of the phobic stimulus may be distorted. eg an omphalophobic is likely to see belly buttons as ugly and/or disgusting.