Characteristics of Phobias Flashcards
1
Q
what are the cognitive characteristics of phobias?
A
- selective attention
- irrational beliefs
- cognitive distortion
2
Q
what is selective attention?
A
this is when the person with the phobias struggles to look away from the phobias stimulus, this is so that they have a better chance of reacting quickly to the threat
3
Q
what are irrational beliefs?
A
person with phobia have unfounded thoughts in relation to the phobic stimulus
4
Q
what is cognitive distortions?
A
perception of person with phobia may be inaccurate and unrealistic
5
Q
what are the emotional characteristics of a phobias?
A
- anxiety
- fear
- emotional response is unreasonable
6
Q
what is anxiety?
A
- an unpleasant state of arousal
- prevents a person from relaxing and makes it difficult for them to experience any positive emotion
- anxiety can be long term
7
Q
what is fear?
A
- immediate and extremely unpleasant response we experience when we encounter or think about the phobic stimulus
- more intense but experienced in shorter periods than anxiety
8
Q
what is emotional response is unreasonable?
A
- anxiety or fear is much greater than is ‘normal’ and disproportionate to any threat posed
9
Q
what are the behavioural characteristics of phobias?
A
- panic
- avoidance
- endurance
10
Q
what is panic?
A
- person with phobia may panic in response to presence of phobic stimulus
- panic includes: crying, screaming or running away
- panic in children: freezing, clinging or having a tantrum
11
Q
what is avoidance?
A
- person with phobia prevent coming into contact with the phobic stimulus
- makes it hard to go about their daily life
12
Q
what is endurance?
A
- person chooses to remain in the presence of the phobic stimulus
