5.2 Phobias- Characteristics

5.2 Phobias- Characteristics

1. Behavioural

   • Panic
     • Person may panic in the presence of the phobic stimulus, includes a range of behaviours: crying, freezing, screaming etc.
   • Avoidance
     • Unless the person is making a conscious effort to face their fear, they tend to go to a lot of stress to prevent coming in contact. This makes it hard to go by daily life.
   • Endurance
     • Alternative behaviour response to avoidance. This occurs when a person chooses to remain in the presence of the phobic stimulus.

2. Emotional

   • Anxiety
     • Phobias are classed as anxiety disorders, meaning they involve and emotional response of anxiety, which is an unpleasant state of high arousal.
   • Fear
     • Fear and anxiety may be used interchangeably, yet are two distinct things. Fear is the immediate and extremely unpleasant response when encountering or thinking about the phobic stimulus. More intense and last a shorter period of time than anxiety.
   • Unreasonable response
     • Anxiety and fear is much greater than normal and is disproportionate to any threat posed.

3. Cognitive

   • Selective attention to phobic stimulus
     • A person may find it hard to look away from the phobic stimulus, as keeping our attention on something gives the best chance of reacting quickly to the threat.
   • Irrational beliefs
     • A person with a phobia may hold unfounded thoughts in relation to the stimuli. For example, social phobias can involve beliefs such as always needing to sound intelligent. These beliefs increase pressure on the person to always perform well.
   • Cognitive distortions
     • Perceptions made by the person may be inaccurate and unrealistic, e.g seeing mushrooms as disgusting.