phobias

• all phoboias are charicterised by excessive fear and anxiety triggered by an object, place or situation. the extent of the fear is out of proportion to the thred proposed by the phobic stimulus. latest version of DSM regonizes the following catagories of phobia and related anxiety disorders

  • specific phobia- fear of an object (eg.animal or body part) or a situation (eg.flying in a plane or having an injection)
  • social anxiety (social phobia)- phobia of social situations (eg.public speaking or using public toilet)
  • agoraphobia- phobia of being outside or in a public space
• behavioural characteristics of phobias:

  • PANIC: a person may panic as a response to the phobic stimulus, this can include behvaiour such as crying, screaming or running away.
  • AVOIDANCE: unless the person is making a concious effort to face their fear, this effort may go into finding any way to avoid having to face the phobic stimulus, this can make going about everyday life very difficult
  • ENDURANCE: the physical opposite of avoidance. where the person with the phobia makes a concious effort to face the stimulus and choses to remain in the presence of it
• emotional characteristics of phobias:

  • ANXIETY: phobias are classed as anxiety disorders, they involve an emotional response of anxiety, this prevents a person from relaxing and makes it difficult to experience positive emotion.
  • FEAR: fear and anxiety are not interchangable words, they have idfferent meanings. Fear is an immediate extreme response we encounter when we think of or face a phobic stimulus, it is more intense but lasts less time than anxiety
  • EMOTIONAL RESPONSE IS UNREASONABLE: the anxiety ot fear is much greater than normal and is disproportionate to any thread posed.
• cognitive characteristics of phobias

  • SELECTIVE ATTENTION TO THE STIMULUS: when we see something dangerous it is a natural response to keep eyes on as its easy to react to a threat quickly, when the fear is irrational it means people cannot consentrate on other things if phobic stimulus is around
  • IRRATIONAL BELIEFS: a person with a phobia may have thoughts towards a thing that cannot be logically explain, (eg. 'i must always sound clever')- puts uneeded pressure on the person
  • COGNITIVE DISTORTIONS: perceptions of a person with a phobia may be innacurate or unrealistic making phobia worse