Phobias

Irrational fear

Phobia

Agoraphobia

Fear of being vulnerable and unable to ESCAPE setting

Help not available with panic

Extreme cases of agoraphobia

Unable to leave home without being accompanied

Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD)

fear of being in a situation where you might do something EMBARRASSING or be EVALUATED NEGATIVELY by others

Fears of people with SAD

Speaking/eating in public

using public restroom

writing in presence f others

Psychoanalytic Theory

Unconscious fears → expressed symbolically → repressed and displaced

Girl raped on boat as child → now afraid of all water vessels (boats)

Learning Theory

Harmless object → “conditioned” response

Parent exhibits fear toward object → model for child

Cognitive theory

Neuropathways → Faulty cognitions/anxiety-inducing “self-instructions”

1. negative self-statements

2. Irrational belief

Cognitive theory Locus of Control

External Locus

• Anxiety attributed to EXTERNAL source beyond one’s control → PHOBIA

Temperament (biological)

BORN WITH → infants afraid of loud noises

Based on age/development (normal)

Life Experiences (biological)

Specific events

Nursing Dx

Fear (phobic)

Social isolation (agoraphobia

Outcome

Function in presence of phobic object without PANIC

Plan of action for responding to phobic object

nursing interventions for FEAR

• Reassure Safety

• Explore perception

• Discuss reality

• Desensitization/Implosion therapy'

• Explore underlying Feelings