clinical characteristic of phobias

what are the 3 main behavioural characterisitcs

avoidance panic and Endurance The alternative to avoidance is endurance in which a sufferer remains in the presence of the phobic stimulus but continues to experience high levels of anxiety. This may be unavoidable in some situation e.g. a person who has a phobia of flying.

outline each of the 3 behavioral

avoidance = adapting normal behaviour to purposefully avoid phobic object eg cross the street to avoid a bee

panic= an uncomfortable physical response that happens at the sudden appearance of the phobic object results often in crying and hyperventilating

endurance= The alternative to avoidance is endurance in which a sufferer remains in the presence of the phobic stimulus but continues to experience high levels of anxiety. This may be unavoidable in some situation e.g. a person who has a phobia of flying.

what are the 2 emotional characteristics

anxiety and fear

outline the 2 emotional characteristic

anxiety state of uncomfortably high an persistent arousal which makes it hard to relax increases when an individual encounter the phobia

fear an intense emotional state linked to fight or flight response a sensation of extreme alertness.

what are the 3 main cognitive characteristics

Cognitive distortions

Selective attention to the phobic stimulus

Irrational beliefs

outline the cognitive

Cognitive distortions: The phobic's perceptions of the phobic stimulus may be distorted. So, for example, somebody with a fear of snakes may see them as alien and aggressive looking.

Selective attention to the phobic stimulus: If a sufferer can see the phobic stimulus it is hard to look away from it. Keeping our attention on a dangerous threat is beneficial as it gives us the best opportunity to react to the threat but it is not beneficial when the fear is irrational. For example, a failure to concentrate at work if there is a man with a beard in the room for somebody suffering from pogonophobia.

Irrational beliefs: A phobic may hold irrational beliefs in relation to phobic stimuli e.g. social phobias can involve beliefs like "I must always sound intelligent" or "if I blush, people will think I'm weak". This kind of belief adds pressure to the sufferer to perform well in social situations.