Phobia characteristics

• What is a phobia?


  An irrational fear of an object or situation
• What are the behavioural characteristics of phobias?


  - panic

  - avoidance

  - endurance
• What are the emotional characteristics of phobias?


  - anxiety

  - fear

  - emotional response is unreasonable
• What are the cognitive characteristics of phobias?


  - selective attention to phobic stimulus: hard to look away from phobia

  - irrational beliefs

  - cognitive distortions: person w phobia may have inaccurate & unrealistic perceptions of it