phobias

• Phobias


  An irrational fear of an object, place or situation that causes a constant avoidance of said object, place or situation
• Phobias


  • Characterised by the excessive fear and anxiety caused by the object, place or situation
• Categories of phobias (DSM-5)

  • Specific phobia
  • Social phobia (Social anxiety)
  • Agoraphobia
• Specific phobia


  Phobia of a specific object or situation, e.g. a needle, spider, or flying
• Social phobia (Social anxiety)

  Phobia of social situations, e.g. public speaking
• Agoraphobia


  Phobia of being outside
• Symptoms of phobias


  • Behavioural characteristics
  • Emotional characteristics
  • Cognitive characteristics
• Behavioural characteristics


  • Panic: Crying, screaming, running away
  • Avoidance: Avoiding the phobic stimulus
  • Endurance: Remaining in the presence of the phobia but suffering high anxiety
• Emotional characteristics


  • Emotional responses: Unreasonable and irrational
  • Anxiety: Unpleasant state of high arousal
  • Fear: Immediate emotion when in contact with the phobia
• Cognitive characteristics


  • Selective attention to the source of the phobia
  • Cognitive distortions: Distorted perception of the phobic object
• Behaviourist approach


  Explains all behaviour as observable and learned
• The behaviourist approach focuses on explaining the behaviours created by the phobia and does not explain the cognitive or emotional features of phobias
• Two-process model


  Explanation for the onset and persistence of disorders that create anxiety, including phobias
• Acquisition of phobia by classical conditioning

  1. Phobic object is a neutral stimulus

  2. Paired with an unconditioned stimulus that produces fear

  3. Neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus that produces the fear response

  4. Conditioning generalises to similar objects
• Maintenance of phobia by operant conditioning

  Avoidance of phobic object reduces anxiety, which reinforces the avoidance behaviour
• Example of acquisition of a phobia

  • Little Albert experiment
• The Little Albert experiment would not be conducted today due to ethical guidelines and the psychological harm caused
• Strengths of the two-process model

  • Real-world application
  • Supports by Little Albert study
• Limitations of the two-process model

  • Does not account for cognitive aspects of phobias
  • Not all phobias follow a bad experience
• Evolutionary theory may better explain some phobias that would have been dangerous to our ancestors
• Systematic desensitisation


  1. Anxiety hierarchy

  2. Relaxation techniques

  3. Gradual exposure to phobic stimulus
• Anxiety hierarchy for arachnophobia

  • Imagine spider
  • Look at pictures
  • Enter room with spider in box
  • Look at spider in box
  • Hold box
  • Watch someone else hold spider
  • Allow spider to walk close/on you
  • Hold spider
• Strengths of systematic desensitisation

  • Proven successful with range of phobias
  • Effective for patients with vivid imagination
  • Fast treatment
  • Can use virtual reality
  • Suitable for those with learning disabilities
• Limitations of systematic desensitisation

  • Less effective for evolutionary phobias
  • Doesn't treat cause, only behaviour
  • Virtual reality less effective than real stimulus
  • Difficulty applying to real-life situations
• Flooding


  1. Immediate exposure to phobic stimulus

  2. Designed to stop phobic response through extinction

  3. Theoretically results in counter-conditioning
• Strengths of flooding


  • Cost-effective
  • Works well with 'simple' phobias
• Limitations of flooding


  • Can be very traumatic for patient
  • Less effective with complex phobias