Phobias

What is a phobia? AO1

An anxiety disorder that causes irrational fear & a conscious avoidance of the feared object/situation

What are the behavioural characteristics? AO1

• Panic eg crying, screaming, heavy breathing

• Avoidance of phobic situation

• Endurance eg in the presence of phobia but experiences high anxiety like flying

What are the emotional characteristics? AO1

• Anxiety

• Persistent fear that goes beyond what’s reasonable

What are the cognitive characteristics? AO1

• Selective attention - focusing on phobic stimulus even though it causes anxiety

• Irrational beliefs

• Cognitive distortions - inaccurate perception of phobic stimulus

What is the behavioural approach’s explanation? AO1

Two process model - acquired via classical conditioning and maintained via operant conditioning

Phobia acquisition AO1

• Classical conditioning

• Watson & Rayner conditioned Little Albert to fear white rats

• NS (rat) —> no response

• UCS (loud noise) —> UCR (fear)

• UCS (loud noise) + NS (rat) —> UCR (fear)

• CS (rat) —> CR (fear)

• Phobia can be generalised to similar objects eg cotton balls

Phobia maintenance AO1

• Operant conditioning

• Avoiding phobic situations causes anxiety levels to drop

• By avoiding unpleasant consequence, the avoidance behaviour is negatively reinforced and likely to be repeated again

Explanation strengths AO3

• P - effective treatments eg SD & flooding

• E - SD uses principles of CC to help people unlearn their fears & flooding uses principles of OC to stop negative reinforcement of phobic avoidance

• T - very successful in treating phobias & social & economic benefits

Explanation limitations AO3

• P - ignores evolutionary explanations

• E - Bounton says some phobias have developed over time to aid survival/reproduction & are adaptive eg fear of snakes. Seligman calls this biological preparedness

• T - not a full explanation of phobias & reductionist

• P - doesn’t explain phobias that don’t have any negative experiences prior

• E - doesn’t explain a person’s fear of snakes if they’ve never encountered one - impossible to CC a fear response to a stimulus that hasn’t been encountered

• T - not a full explanation of phobia accquistition

• P - Buck suggested that safety is a greater motivator for avoidance behaviour, rather just avoiding phobias

• E - social phobias sufferers can venture out into public but only with a trusted friend, despite still being exposed to hundreds of strangers which would usually trigger their anxiety.

• T - Mowrer’s explanation of phobias may be incomplete and only suited for some.

Systematic desensitisation AO1

• Gradual exposure to phobic stimulus

• Uses principles of CC that what has been learned can be unlearned (counter-conditioning)

• We can’t be afraid & relaxed at the same time - if we stay relaxed in presence of phobia we won’t fear it (reciprocal inhibition)

Systematic desensitisation steps AO1

1. Patient taught how to relax completely eg breathing exercises, mental imagery processes or relaxation drugs eg Valium

2. Patient & therapist create hierarchy of fear (phobic situations ranked least to worst)

3. Patient works their way up through the hierarchy, only progressing to the next level when they have remained calm in the present level

4. Phobia is cured when the patient can remain calm at the highest anxiety level

SD strengths AO3

• P - plenty of evidence

• E - Bronson & Thorpe (2006) used 10 week SD programme on technophobes. At the end their anxiety levels were lower than control group who had no SD

• T - SD is effective although its client-controlled which may be a factor in effectiveness

• P - suitable for many patients, including those with learning difficulties

• E - Anxiety disorders are often accompanied with learning disabilities so patients may not be able to make the full cognitive commitment associated with CBT or have the ability to evaluate their own thoughts.

• T - particularly suitable for them & accessible

SD limitations AO3

• P - not effective for all phobias

• E - Phobias not developed through a negative experience eg heights not effectively treated using SD. Some psychologists believe they have evolutionary survival benefits & are the result of evolution

• T - reductionist as ignores biological/evolutionary factors

• P - effective but not a cure

• E - may mask symptoms oms & initially improve but worsen again after a few months

• T - not a permanent solution

Flooding AO1

• Direct exposure to phobic stimulus/situation

• Exposure is repeated to show client that there’s no basis for their fear

• No gradual build up like SD & patient must sign consent form

• Successful when extinction of the fear (no longer a conditioned response)

Flooding strengths AO3

• P - cost effective

• E - highly effective & quicker than SD as sometimes it only requires 1 session

• T - effective treatment & economic benefits as people don't have to take loads off time off work

Flooding limitations AO3

• P - doesn’t work for all phobias eg social phobias

• E - social phobias may have cognitive aspects which flooding doesn’t acknowledge

• T - reductionist as ignores cognitive aspects & may be less effective than CBT