Phobias
- Created by: zoe_chetty
- Created on: 14-12-18 12:21
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- Phobias
- Behavioural characteristics
- Panic
- A phobic person may panic in response to the phobic stimulus. My include crying, screaming, running away
- Avoidance
- Unless the sufferer if making a conscious effort to face their fear they tend to go to a lot of effort to avoid coming into contact with the phobic stimulus
- Panic
- Emotional characteristics
- Anxiety
- An unpleasant state of high arousal. Prevents sufferers from relaxing. Can be long term
- Emotional responses are unreasonable
- The emotional responses we experience in relation to phobic stimuli go beyond what is reasonable. Often the fear experienced is wildly disproportionate to the danger posed
- Anxiety
- Cognitive characteristics
- Selective attention to phobic stimulus
- If a sufferer can see the phobic stimulus, their attention remains on it
- Irrational beliefs
- A phobic may hold irrational beliefs in relation to phobic stimuli
- Cognitive distortions
- The phobic's perceptions of the phobic stimulus may be distorted
- Selective attention to phobic stimulus
- Behavioural approach to explaining phobias
- The Two-process model
- Acquisition by CC
- CC involves learning to associate something we initially have no fear of with something that already triggers fear response
- Albert was shown a white rat (NS) and did not show any anxiety. Whenever the rat was presented they made a loud noise (UCS). Through CC Albert learned to be frightened when he saw the rat without the loud noise being made (CS).
- CC involves learning to associate something we initially have no fear of with something that already triggers fear response
- Maintenance by OC
- OC takes place when our beh is reinforced or punished. Reinforcement tends to increase the chances of a behaviour being repeated, punishment makes it less likely
- In the case of neg reinforcement an individual avoids a phobic object/ situation that is unpleasant. Such beh results in a desirable consequence, lack of anxiety/ fear. Means the avoidance beh will be repeated and phobia maintained.
- OC takes place when our beh is reinforced or punished. Reinforcement tends to increase the chances of a behaviour being repeated, punishment makes it less likely
- Acquisition by CC
- Evaluation
- Not all traumatic events result in a phobia- sometimes people develop a phobia and are not aware of having had a bad experience. Makes the behavioural approach incomplete in explaining phobias.
- Good explanatory power- 2 process model is useful in explaining how phobias could be maintained overtime, having important implications for therapies.
- Effective therapies based on the explanations
- The Two-process model
- Behavioural approach to treating phobias
- Systematic desensitisation
- Beh therapy designed to gradually reduce phobic anxiety through the principle of CC. A new response to the phobic stimulus is learned. Counter conditioning.
- Wolpe developed a technique where phobics were introduced to the feared stimulus gradually. Works on the basis of reciprocal inhibition, the inability to experience two opposing emotions at the same time
- 3 processes involved in SD
- The anxiety hierarchy- put together by the patient and therapist. It is a list of situations related to the phobic stimulus and that provoke anxiety arranged in order from least to most frightening
- Relaxation- the therapist teaches the patient to relax as deeply as possible. This could be through relaxation techniques such as breathing exercises
- Exposure- finally the patient is exposed to the phobic stimulus while in a relaxed state. Occurs over several sessions. When a patient can stay relaxed in the presence of the lower levels of the phobic stimulus they can move up the hierarchy. Succesful when they remain calm at the top
- Evaluation
- Evidence of effectiveness- shows reduction in anxiety and proves the effects are long lasting
- It is accepted by patients- pleasant elements such as relaxation. Low refusal rates
- Flooding
- Patients go straight to the top of the hierarchy and imagine, or have contact with their most feared scenarios
- The idea is that patients cannot make their usual avoidance responses and anxiety peaks at such high levels it cannot be maintained and eventually subsides
- Flooding sessions are usually longer than SD sessions, but sometimes only one session is needed to cure a phobia.
- Flooding is also based on CC and the idea of extinction. A learned response is extinguished when the conditioned stimulus is encountered without the unconditioned stimulus. The result is that the CS no longer produces the CR.
- Evaluation
- It is cost effective- flooding is at least as effective as other treatments for specific phobias. Has a quick effect, making treatment cheaper.
- Less effective for some types of phobias- such as social phobias. Because of cog aspects, this treatment doesn't tackle irrational thinking.
- The treatment is traumatic for patients- may be unwilling to see it through to the end.
- Systematic desensitisation
- Behavioural characteristics
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