phobias

• Specific Phobias = animals, objects, body parts or situation such as flying.
• Social anxiety = social situations, public speaking or using a public toilet.
• Agoraphobia = being outside or in a public place.
• Behavioural Characteristics

  • Panic - crying, screaming, running away. Children freeze, may be clingy or have a tantrum.
  • Avoidance - People go to lengths to avoid phobias. Eg, fear of public toilets may stop leaving the house.
  • Endurance - An alternative to avoidance, sufferer remains in the presence of a phobic stimulus but continues to feel high levels of anxiety.
• Emotional characteristics

  ANXIETY - Phobias are classed as an anxiety disorder, they involve an emotional response of anxiety and fear.

  Anxiety is an unpleasant state of high arousal and can be long term.
• Cognitive Characteristics

  • selective attention - If sufferer can see the phobic stimulus it can be hard to look away.
  • irrational beliefs - A phobia may hold irrational beliefs in relation to the phobic stimuli.
  • cognitive distortions - The perception of phobic stimuli may be distorted.
• The behavioural explanations of phobias

  The behavioural approach involves the two process model : that phobias are learned by classical conditioning and maintained by operant conditioning.
• Acquisition (how we get the phobia) by classical conditioning.

  It involves learning to associate something we do not fear (neutral stimulus) with something that already triggers a fear (unconditional stimulus).
• Watson & Rayner (1920)

  Created a phobia in 9 month old Albert. He showed no signs of anxiety at the start of the study - when showed the white rat (neutral stimulus)he tried to play with it. When they presented the rat they made a loud noise (unconditioned stimulus) close to alberts head which cause a fear response(unconditioned response). Albert started to show signs of stress (conditional response)to the white rat (now a conditioned stimulus) which was also generalised to other white fluffy objects.
• Maintenance by operant conditioning

  Operant conditioning is when a behaviour is reinforced or punished, reinforcement increases the behaviour. In negative reinforcement the individual avoids the unpleasant situation. This results in desirable consequences, so the behaviour will be repeated.
• Positive reinforcement = praise we receive, verbal or token. Therefore, behaviour is likely to be repeated.
• Negative reinforcement = Doing something to stop something negative.
• Punishment = getting a negative consequence in order to stop a behaviour.
• Strength of the two process model

  Good explanatory power - It explained how phobias could be maintained over time and it has important implications for therapists because it explains why patients need to be exposed to the stimulus. Once they are prevented from practising their avoidance behaviour the behaviour ceases to be reinforced.
• Weakness of the two process model

  Alternative explanation for avoidance behaviour - Evidence suggests that some avoidance behaviour seems to be motivated by feeling of safety not just anxiety reduction. This explains why some patients with agoraphobia are able to leave the house with a trusted person.
• Weakness of the two process model

  An incomplete explanation of phobias - There are some aspects of phobic behaviour that need some more explanation. Eg. the evolutionary factors have an important role on phobias but the model does not mention this. However, it is rare to have a fear of cars/guns because they've only existed recently so we are not biologically prepared to learn from fear responses towards them, Showing that there is more to acquiring phobias than simple conditioning.
• In vivo desensitisation - involves the person actually coming into contact with the phobic object or situation.
• In vitro desensitisation - involves the person imagining the phobic object or situation.
• Systematic desensitisation = Behavioural therapy designed to gradually reduce phobic anxiety through classical conditioning. If the sufferer can learn to relax in the presence of the phobic stimulus they will be cured.
• Counterconditioning = A new response to the phobic stimulus is learned.
• Reciprocal inhibition = It is impossible to be afraid and relaxed at the same time, one emotion prevents the other.
• 3 processes involved in systematic desensitisation :

  1. Anxiety hierarchy - order situations from least to most frightening.
  2. Relaxation - Therapist teaches patient to relax (relaxation techniques/drugs).
  3. Exposure - The patient is exposed to the phobic stimulus whilst relaxed starting at the bottom of the hierarchy and moving up.
• FLOODING

  Exposing patients to phobic stimulus without gradual build up. Flooding stops phobic responses quickly, as the patient is unable to avoid the stimulus. However this method has ethical implications as it is an unpleasant experience so the patient must give fully informed consent.
• Strength of systematic desensitisation

  Evidence of effectiveness - Gilroy et al (2003) followed 42 people who had SD for a spider phobia in 3 sessions. At both 3 and 33 months, the SD group were less fearful than the control group.
• Strength of Systematic Desensitisation

  People with learning disabilities - SD can be used to treat people with learning disabilities as they often struggle with cognitive therapies that require a high level of irrational thought. They also may feel confused and distressed by flooding.
• Strength of flooding

  cost effective - a therapy is cost effective if it is clinically effective (how effective a therapy is at tackling symptoms) and not expensive. Flooding can work in one session as opposed to 10 with SD.
• Weakness of flooding

  Traumatic - Confronting a phobic stimulus in an extreme form provokes tremendous anxiety. This raises ethical issues of knowingly causing stress to patients, they must provide fully informed consent.