PHOBIAS

• behavioural symptoms

  • panic
  • avoidance
  • endurance (chooses to remain in presence of phobic stimulus fear to leave)
• emotional symptoms

  • anxiety
  • fear
• cognitive symptoms

  • selective attention to phobic stimulus
  • irrational beliefs
  • cognitive distortions (inaccurate perception)
• behavioural approach

  • Mowrer proposed two process model 1960 - phobias are acquired by classical conditioning and continued by operant conditioning
  • Watson and Rayner created phobia in 'Little Albert' - white rat conditioned stimulus to produce conditioned response of fear/anxiety after being paired with loud bang unconditioned response
  • generalisation - conditioning to similar objects other fluffy objections non-white rat, fur coat, santa claus beard -> anxiety
  • negative reinforcement - avoids unpleasant stimulus and successfully escapes - increases behaviour
• treatment

  • Systematic desensitisation - gradually reduces phobic fear through classical conditioning - learning how to relax in presence of phobic stimulus (counter conditioning - reconditioning learning how to respond differently) -> reciprocal inhibition (impossible to be anxious and relaxed at same time)

  1. anxiety hierarchy - list of situations in order of least to most scary
  2. relaxation - breathing techniques, mental imagery techniques, meditation, drugs
  3. exposure - when they reach top of hierarchy and they can stay relaxed treatment is successful
• strengths of systematic desensitisation

  + preferred over flooding - Schumacher et al participants and therapists rated systematic desensitisation as less stressful - ethical issues with traumatic natures + dropout rates for flooding higher - if people dropout not effective at all

  + supporting evidence - Gilroy et al systematic desensitisation for arachnophobia less fearful than control group - effective
• weakness of systematic desensitisation

  -more time consuming - many sessions + duration of sessions for gradual progress of hierarchy long themselves whereas flooding can even be just one long session - disruptive in life/not enough time with work/school - less convenient
• treatment

  • flooding - no gradual buildup/immediate exposure
  • sessions are longer than SD 2-3 hours - sometimes only one long session required
  • classical conditioning - extinction (learnt response is extinguished when conditioned stimulus is encountered without conditioned response
• strengths of flooding


  + time/cost effective - can be done in one long session rather than 10 sessions for SD to achieve same result - more people can be treated - more effective
• weaknesses of flooding 


  -traumatic for patient - intense nature more likely to increase a phobia than SD doesn't wait for patient to be ready - if it makes phobia worse than not effective at all

  -SD is preferred - Schumacher et al participants and therapists rated systematic desensitisation as less stressful - ethical issues with traumatic natures + dropout rates for flooding higher - if people dropout not effective at all