psych u4 (phobias stress ect)

specific enviromental trigger (define)

a direct negative exerience or witnessing someone elses negative experience; causes phobia onset

stigma of seeking treatment (define)

shame related to asking for help, due to others misunderstanding and often leads to avoiding treatment and maintining phobia

psychoeducation for familie and supporters

providing information and support to the family of the person with the phobia so they can understand symptoms and causes

2 ways psychoeducation for families and supporters works as a psychological intervention

challenging unrealistic thoughts, discouraging avoidence behaviors

classical conditioning (in relation to phobia)

develops a phobia, NS becomes a phobic stimulus. Phobic stimulus (CS) leads to phobic reaction (CR)

operant conditioning (in relation to phobia)

strengthens phobia via avoidance (behavior) of the phobic stimulus (antecedent) helps reduce stress (consequence) via negative reinforcement

cognative bias

a tendency to think in a way that involves errors of judgement and faulty decsision making

name 2 cognative biases

memory bias, catastrophic thinking

Memory bias

current knowledge, beliefs and feelings altering the memory of a previous experience

catastrophising (catastrophic thinking)

expecting extreme, exaggerated and unrealistic scenaro in the future

cognative behavioral therapy (CBT)

therapy approach of redirecting negative thoughts feelings and behaviors

how does CBT treat specific phobia

teaches new skills on how to react (cognativly and behaviorally) to triggering situations or stimuli

How does CBT treat spcific phobia cognitively

identifies and challenges irrational fears and anxiety related thoughts. including cognative and memory biases

How does CBT treat specific phobias behaviorally

alters maladaptive behaviors by using breathing techniques and replacing avoidence behaviors with appropriate responses to deal with phobic stimulus

systematic desensitization

processes to extinguish the connection between phobic stimulus and anxiety

how does systematic desansitization treat specific phobia

professionals slowly guide clients through relaxation techniques while slowly exposing them to the phobic stimulus via a codeveloped fear hierarchy

flooding

speeding up the extinction of the phobia by directly exposing the individual to the phobic stimulus

precipitating factor

any factor that may have a link to the development of a specific phobia

perpetuating factor

any factor that contributes to the maintanence of a specific phobia

biological factors

internal, genetic and/or physiologically based factors

interventions

evidence based treatments

Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)

The primary inhibitory neurotransmitter in the nervous system

GABA Dysfunction

insufficient transmission or reception of GABA

Long term potentiation (LTP)

the long lasting strengthening of snyaptic connections via repeated coactivation

How Does LTP contribute to specific phobia

by neurologically strenghteining the association between fear and anxiety responses with the phobic stimulus

How does GABA dysfunction contribute to specific phobia

by making someones fight flight or freeze response activate more easily

GABA agonists

benzodiazapines - a short acting anti anxiety drug

how do GABA agonists treat GABA dysfunction

they bind to GABA receptor sites and mimic GABA effects to increase inhibitory response

breath retraining

practicing breath techniques that decrease hyperventilation & decrease arousal, activating the sympathetic NS response

How does breath retraining treat the effects of LTP

decreases the link between neurons causing panic by instead assosciating stimulus with parasympathetic ns response

stress

normal short term physiological and psychological reaction to a known stressor

anxiety

a physiological and psychological response involving feelings of dread or aprehension about a known or unknown future threat

specific phobia

a extreme and disproportionate fear when anticipating or an encounter with a specific stimulus

3 symptoms of extreme anxiety

nausea, sweating, stomach cramps

3 symptoms of specific phobia

avoidence behavior, panic attacks, anticipatory anxiety