characteristics of phobias

• Phobias are an irrational fear of an object, place or situation that causes a constant avoidance of said object, place or situation. All phobias are characterised by the excessive fear and anxiety caused by the object, place or situation.
• • The DSM-5 ( diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders), 5th edition recognised the following categories of phobias:
  • Specific phobia: Phobia of a specific object or situation, E.g. A needle or spider, or, flying 
  • Social phobia (Social anxiety): Phobia of social situations, E.g. Public speaking
  • Agoraphobia: Phobia of being outside
• • The DSM-5 is a guide to the diagnosis of mental disorders. It is used by health care professionals in the United States and much of the world. It contains descriptions, symptoms, and other criteria for diagnosing mental disorders.
• Symptoms of phobias can be characterised in 3 areas;

  • behavioural
  • emotional
  • cognitive
• Behavioural;

  • avoidant, anxiety response; confrontation with feared objects and situations produces a high anxiety response, efforts are made on the part of the individual to avoid the feared objects and situations in order to reduce the chances of anxiety occurring. For example, if someone is afraid of ghosts, they would avoid taking a short cut through the graveyard at night.
  • panic in response of the object; e.g. screaming, crying and running away
  • endurance; the person remains in the presence of the phobic stimulus. For example remaining on an aeroplane during the flight.
• continuing behavioural;

  • disruption of functioning; anxiety and avoidance responses are so extreme that they can severely interfere with the ability to conduct everyday working and social functioning. For example, a person with a social phobia will find it very difficult to socialise with others.
• Emotional;

  • persistent; anxiety is produced from the presence of anticipation of a feared object/situation
  • fear from exposure to phobic stimulus; phobias produce an immediate fear response (e.g. panic attacks) due to the presence of the phobic object/ situation
  • hard to relax
  • unpleasant state of high arousal
• Cognitive;

  • recognition of exaggerated anxiety; people who suffer from phobias are consciously aware that the anxiety levels they experience in relation to their feared object or situation are overstated (over exaggerated)
  • Selective attention; Finding it difficult to direct your attention elsewhere - you become fixated on the object.
  • Irrational beliefs; Failing to think rationally (logically). For example, a person living in the UK with arachnophobia may believe that all spiders are dangerous and deadly, despite the fact that no spiders in the UK are actually deadly.