psychopathology phobias
Phobias
Phobia- an anxiety disorder, a irrational fear
3 types of phobias
Specific phobia ( of an object or situation)(most common)
Agoraphobia (fear of being trapped in a public place where escape may be difficult “fear of an open marketplate)
Social phobia (extreme shyness, fear of social situations, panic attacks)
The behavioural approach to explaining phobias
The behavioural approach proposes that phobias are acquired through classical and operant conditioning.
The “Two process model” proposes that classical conditioning happens first- the individual learns a fear through association, but then this phobia continues because of operant conditioning and the rewarding feelings the individual experiences when they avoid the thing they are terrified of.
Classical conditioning
Pre conditioning
Neutral stimulus —-> no response
Unconditioned stimulus —--> unconditioned response
During
NS + UCS —---> unconditional response
After
Conditioned stimulus —--> conditioned response
Fears are acquired when an individual associates a neutral stimulus, such as a cat, with a fear response. E.g. a person never previously showing fear of cats is one day scratched and reacts with
intense fear. From this point onwards the individual associates all cats with the fear/pain they felt in that situation and a phobia emerges.
Evidence AO3
Watson and Rayner (1920) sought to provide experimental evidence that fear could be learned in this way.
They worked with an 11 month old boy called Little Albert.
Albert showed no fear when exposed to white fluffy objects (neutral stimuli)
Albert showed fear when an iron bar was struck loudly behind his head (unconditioned stimulus causing unconditioned response)
These white fluffy objects were repeatedly paired with the clanging of the bar
Albert soon showed great fear to the fluffy objects when presented alone (conditioned stimuli now causing a conditioned response)
Watson had induced a phobia in Albert via classical conditioning.
A01 Operant Conditioning
The second stage of the two process model is operant conditioning whereby avoiding the phobic stimulus is reinforcing and rewarding because it greatly relieves anxiety.
A03- Munjack (1984)
Refuted this theory
Investigated people with driving phobia
Found that only half the pps had actually experienced a car accident
More importantly, in the control group (who did not have driving phobia) half of these people had experienced a serious car accident.
A03- Diathesis Stress Model
An explanation for Munjack’s findings (and indeed a much more holistic explanation of phobias in general) comes from the DIATHESIS STRESS
MODEL
This is the idea that we may be born with some sort of biological predisposition to make us more susceptible to developing a phobia (e.g. a faulty gene) but it depends whether experiences in our ENVIRONMENT bring it out i.e. this is an INTERACTIONIST approach- both nature and nurture contribute to our psychology.
-ve Alternative Evidence:
There is evidence from studies use brain scanning techniques that phobias could be purely caused by our biology- specifically being investigated is the action of too much blood flowing through the amygdala (EMOTIONAL CENTRE of the brain).
This would explain why not everyone who experiences a traumatic event goes on to acquire a phobia through classical conditioning.
-VE Biological Preparedness
There is an evolutionary explanation of phobias that states that all phobias are linked to our evolutionary past (i.e. cave man times)
We have evolved specifically to be afraid of certain things (spiders, the dark, snakes) because they could have posed a SERIOUS THREAT to our ancestors so it was ADAPTIVE to be scared of them- it promoted survival!
This could explain why phobias do not always develop after a traumatic incident too.
Only “prepared” fears which posed a threat to our ancestors have the potential to be learned via classical and operant conditioning.
Cars, toasters, motor bikes- these have not been around long enough to have been subject to the same evolutionary processes, although they are
FAR more likely to kill us than snakes/spiders.
All of these points- the diathesis stress, neuroanatomical explanation and
evolutionary explanation suggest that the behavioural explanation is not sufficient on its own to explain how phobias develop.
The Behavioural Approach to
TREATING phobias
Systematic Desensitisation A01
The idea is that two incompatible emotional states cannot exist at the same time e.g. anxiety and relaxation.
The aim is therefore to REPLACE anxiety (or the fear response) with relaxation
This is done by re-teaching the individual to associate the feared object with feelings of being relaxed.
the therapist helps the individual progress through a hierachy of anxiety provoking
situations- starting with those that arouse least anxiety and building up to those that provoke most anxiety.
Relaxation techniques are taught and practised rigorously at every stage
Relaxation techniques include strategies like visualisation, breathing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation
A03
SD is one of the most successful psychological treatments to have ever been developed.
The success rate has been found in meta-analyses to be around 75%.
For people with a phobia of injections, research shows that SD can relieve the phobia in 90% of cases.
A03
According to psychologists, agoraphobia is one of the hardest phobias to treat yet meta-analyses have found high success rates (60-80%)
Unfortunately, research shows that relapses are common.
A03 Combining treatments
Research shows that combining SD with CBT or drug treatment is effective in relieving phobias.
Burke et al found SD + medication was the best treatment for agoraphobia
A03
-ve Psychodynamic psychologists (what is happening in your mind when you're not thinking, power of the unconscious) claim that SD is not successful because it never tackles the underlying cause (in the unconscious mind, only accessible through psychotherapy)
A03
-ve Evolutionary ( you can't treat phobias bc they are inherited in our genes) psychologists say that you cannot cure phobias with an evolutionary/genetic basis – linked to survival (dark, certain animals, heights) through these methods
A01 Flooding
This is a controversial treatment whereby the individual is exposed to the feared-object in an intense non-graded way
Based on the biological fact that our bodies eventually get exhausted – the stress response has to stop because adrenaline totally runs out.
-Client is placed alone in the phobic situation
-Client must remain there until anxiety decreases- (usually after about one hour adrenaline supplies deplete).
-Emotional exhaustion sets in when the client eventually realises they are safe and nothing dreadful has happened to them.
-The client should no longer have the phobia after this realisation
A03
In vivo techniques are very dangerous and the ethics of such techniques are questionable!
Even during in vitro techniques clients can suffer such high blood pressure that they are at risk of a heart attack because they are so stressed.
Sometimes medical supervision is required.
A03 on Flooding
One strength of flooding is that it is a quick treatment. It only takes one session
Consequently many clients – and healthcare providers – prefer it over other treatments.
Saves money
A03 Evidence
Curtis (1976) reports 12 patients successfully cured using flooding at the Maudsley institute in London
The patients had either snake, bird (dead birds, live birds and feathers), spiders or wasp/bee phobia.