phobias

what is a phobia?

• an irrational fear of an object, place, or situation

• the extent of fear for that thing is out of proportion to the real danger

what are the three characteristics of phobias?

• behavioural

• emotional

• cognitive

what are the three components of behavioural characteristics of phobias?

• panic

• avoidance

• endurance

panic

a phobic person may panic in response to presence of a phobic stimulus

• e.g. crying, screaming or running away

avoidance

a phobic person will go to a lot of effort to avoid coming into contact with the phobic stimulus

endurance

a phobic person will sometimes remain in the presence of the phobic stimulus but continues to experience high levels of anxiety

what are the emotional characteristics of phobias?

anxiety and fear

what is anxiety?

an unpleasant state of high arousal

what is fear?

an unpleasant emotion in response to thinking of or encountering the phobic stimulus

what are the cognitive characteristics of phobias?

• selective attention to the phobic stimulus

• irrational beliefs

• cognitive distortions

selective attention to the stimulus

if a phobic person can see the phobic stimulus it is hard for them to look away from it (and therefore concentrate on what they’re doing)

irrational beliefs

an illogical idea that a person holds, even when faced with objective evidence to the contrary

cognitive distortions

the phobic person’s perceptions of the phobic stimulus may be distorted