phobias

• Phobia types

  specific-phobia of item or situation

  soical-phobia of social situations

  agoraphobia-phobia of public places
• behavioural characteristics of phobias

  -panic,response to phobia presence

  -avoidance,of potential phobic situations or stimulus

  -endurance,alternative to avoidance when you chose to stay in presence of phobia
• emotional characteristics of phobias

  -anxiety,unpleasant increases state of arousal

  -fear,immediate and unpleasant response

  -unreasonable response,fear is disproportionate to any threat
• cognitive characteristics of phobias

  -selective attention,keep attention on phobic stimulus if in sight

  -irrational beliefs,unfounded thoughts

  -cognitive distortions,perceptions may be unrealistic and inaccurate
• behavioural explanation to phobias

  mowrers 2 model process

  learn phobia via classical conditions and maintain phobia via operant conditioning to create a long-lasting phobia
• classical conditions for phobias

  a traumatic one-trial learning experience

  the NS is associated with the UCR to create the CS and the CR eg. Little Albert rat and fear
• operant conditioning for phobias

  negative reinforcement- avoid unpleasant phonic situations reduces fear which motivates the avoidance behaviour
• behavioural treatments for phobias

  systematic desensitisation:

  -”unlearning“ a phobia

  3 step sequence

  -anxiety hierarchy,increasing fearful situations in a hierarchy triangle

  -relaxation techniques,techniques to help reduce anxiety such as breathing exercises

  -exposure,gradual exposure through movement up the hierarchy and don’t move on to the next level until they’re completely calm
• behavioural treatments for phobias

  flooding:

  -immediate exposure to phobia

  -without the option to avoid the phobia the client learns the stimulus is harmless

  -learned response is extinguished,the CS(eg. dog)occurs with the UCS (eg.being bitten) so the CS no longer produces the CR(fear)

  -full informed consent must be given as flooding is an unpleasant experience