phobias

• behavioural characteristics

  -panic

  -endurance

  -avoidance
• cognitive symptoms include irrational thoughts about the danger of the situation or object, distorted thinking, catastrophic thinking, negative self-evaluation, fear of losing control, fear of death, fear of embarrassment, fear of being judged by others.
• emotional characteristics

  -anxiety
• explaining phobias

  mowre two model process

  the two model process explains how classical conditioning acquires the phobia where as operant conditioning maintains the phobia.
• classical conditioning
• operant conditioning

  negative reinforcement sue to the individual avoiding the negative situation due to it having a undesirable consequence which keeps reproducing avoidance -- avoiding the behaviour means phobia remains because it isn't being exposed to the patient
• e.g. little Albert

  when the rat was present they made a loud bang

  overtime Albert associated the loud bang with the rat which made him fear the rat

  when showed the rat alone= Albert scared of it
• Treating phobias

  -flooding = exposure with no lead up

  -systematic desensitisation = gradual exposure to phobic stimuli
• Flooding

  exposing patient to phobic stimulus with no gradual buildup

  -only needs one session
• systematic desensitisation

  exposure gradually through classical conditioning

  1.anxiety hierarchy