S2 L6 - Specific Phobias Flashcards
(23 cards)
What is a specific phobia?
What are five sub-groups of specific phobias?
Animal phobias
Natural environment phobias
Blood-infection-injury phobias - seeing blood
Situational phobias
Other phobias
What does the DSM-5 say about phobias?
Disproportionate fear relating to a specific object or situation
active avoidance
significant distress in important areas of functioning
symptoms cannot be explained by other mental disorders and persist for at least 6 months
What does Freud say about phobias?
Preventing impulses or urges from the Id develops anxiety and phobias
Phobias are avoiding confrontation /underlying issues of phobia
What is incubation ?
C.C doesnt explain or take into account how phobias get worse if repeatedly exposed to stimulus??
What does biological account say for phobias?
We are biologically pre-wired to acquire certain phobias that may pose a real life threat to us
we are born w a pre-disposition to fear the stimuli.
What is the amygdala’s role w phobias?
Mediates fearful responses to phobic stimuli - located in medial temporal lobe
storage of memories relevant to particular moment that has occurred and acts as a centre for that input -
What do cognitive theories say ab phobias?
acquired by maladaptive thinking causing the fear response
there is an attentional bias - people w a phobia of spiders will pay more attention to like spider leg or fangs
what do cognitive behaviour therapists ask the patients?
cognitions - thoughts p have ab phobic stimulus
fight/flight response - what do u do
cognitions ab fight-flight response “ i might be sick” (physiological response kicks in here too)
avoidance - leave the room
bc constant avoidance = reinforcement of phobia
what is a fear hierarchy?
expose p to each stage from least fear inducing to most until anxiety drops
then move on to next stage
each stage more and more realistic too
What is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder?
Direct experience of trauma
witness a traumatic event
experienced by a family member and hearing ab it
repeated exposure to details
What are the criteria needed for PTSD?
Exposure (direct exposure/being witness)
Intrusive Symptoms (FLashbacks/Dreams)
Avoid external/internal reminders (Active avoidance of thoughts
Negative changes in cognitions and mood (Negative emotions, reduced interest in activities
Increased arousal and reactivity - hyper vigilance, difficulty sleeping - bc fight or flight response and anxiety
Biological explanation for PTSD
Smaller/underdeveloped hippocampus
Failure of medial prefrontal cortex to control amygdala - so amygdala overactive - emotional dysregulation ?? possibly
What are the individual vulnerabilities to PTSD?
People who
feel overly responsible
Developmental factors (unstable family life)
Family history
Highly anxious (increases risk of comorbidity - high anxiety)
Low IQ (poor coping mechanisms so struggle w good coping strategies to deal w trauma
Mental defeat - neg view of world and selves
What is the conditioning explanation for PTSD?
trauma is associated w situational cues it happened in
extinguishing of connections cant happen bc of avoidance which reinforce PTSD symptoms
What is the Dual Representation theory?
There are cognitive explanations for how someone develops PTSD
VAM - Verbally Accessible Memory
Easily accessible info
eg memory of trauma that is processed at the time
integrated w biographical memories
SAM - Situationally Accessible Memory
perception based information received from sensory channels
records info not consciously processed eg sounds
Which intervention for PTSD is the most effective?
Graded exposure
detailed narrative of the event (trauma ) w therapist
once less anxious,
look at computer generated images
once less anxious,
visualise trauma-related scenes
once less anxious and more comfy,
exposed to trauma cues
What is OCD? Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Based on
Obsessions
Compulsions
Intrusive thoughts - causing distress which then causes them to engage in compulsions to reduce anxiety
so
obessions - anxiety - compulsions - relief - obsessinos . its a cycle
types of ocd?
checking
contamination
symmetry
intrusive/ruminating thoughts
Criteria for OCD diagnosis
Presence of obsessions - unwanted thoughts, urges
Presence of compulsions - repeat certain behaviours / mental activities
Individual believes the behaviour prevents catastrophic event - stop people from being harmed such as family
Obsessions and compulsions cause difficulty in performing other functions
eg work, relationships, driving, leaving the house
Symptoms cannot be explained by other disorders
what are biological explanations for ocd?
inheritance - twin studies
families & genetics
so overall heritability
traumatic brain injury
psychological factors of ocd
Memory deficit giving rise to doubting
general memory deficit - explains doubting behaviour
less confidence in validity of memories - no confidence in memories
deficit in being able to distinguish between reality and what’s imagined
clinical construct
inflated responsibility
thought-action-fusion
mental contamination
thought suppression
pervasion and the role of mood
What is an intervention for OCD?
Graded exposure to prove nothing terrible will happen
Ritual prevention - work w individual to prevent them from taking part in compulsions to reduce anxiety so it extinguishes relationship between compulsion and obsessive thought
CBT - cognitive restructuring and cognitive therapy
