Specific Phobia

Question 1

Specific Phobia

Answer 1

A diagnosable anxiety disorder, categorised by the disorder characterised by an excessive and disproportionate fear when encountering or anticipating the encounter of a particular stimulus

Question 2

Avoidance behaviour

Answer 2

proactively avoiding situations where the phobic stimulus may be present.

Question 3

Panic attacks

Answer 3

a period of sudden onset of intense fear or terror, often associated with feelings of impending doom

Question 4

Anticipatory anxiety

Answer 4

the gradual rise in anxiety level as a person thinks about being exposed to a phobic stimulus in the future

Question 5

Biopsychosocial approach

Answer 5

a way of describing and explaining how biological, psychological and social factors combine and interact to influence a person’s mental health and wellbeing.

Question 6

Biological Factors – GABA Dysfunction

Answer 6

GABA (gamma-amino butyric acid) is an inhibitory neurotransmitter, therefore making postsynaptic neurons less likely to be activated.

Some people experience the anxiety associated with phobias because the neurotransmission of GABA becomes dysfunctional.
There may be a failure to produce, release or receive the correct amount of GABA needed to regulate neuronal transmission in the brain.
Individuals with a low level of GABA may be more vulnerable to anxiety.

Question 7

Biological Factors – LTP

Answer 7

Long-term potentiation (LTP) at the neural synapse contributes to the development and maintenance of any type of specific phobia that is experience-based.

Given the emotional significance attached to actual or potential phobic experiences, in combination with LTP, neural pathways underlying a phobia tend to be stronger and more enduring than less fearful or anxiety laden long-term memories.

Question 8

Psychological factors - Precipitation by classical conditioning

Answer 8

refers to the development of a specific phobia when a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a fear-inducing event. After repeated pairings, the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus that triggers a conditioned fear response, even without the original cause.

Question 9

Psychological factors - Perpetuation by operant conditioning

Answer 9

Perpetuation by operant conditioning explains how a specific phobia is maintained (perpetuated) over time.

Question 10

Psychological factors – Cognitive Bias

Answer 10

Cognitive biasis a systematic error of thinking that affects decisions and judgments, usually leading to inaccurate or unreasonable conclusions.

Question 11

Memory bias

Answer 11

refers to the distorting influences of present knowledge, beliefs and feelings on the recollection of previous experiences. Often, this results in what is commonly called ‘selective memory’.

Question 12

consistency bias

Answer 12

memories of past experiences are distorted through reconstruction to fit in with what is presently known or believed;

e.g. current fears of specific objects or situations influence memory reconstruction of those objects or situations in ways that incorporate those fears

Question 13

change bias

Answer 13

whenever we recall a past experience we exaggerate the difference between what we knew or felt then and what we currently know or feel, which can lead our phobic fears to grow over time, disproportionately from what they are in reality.

Question 14

Catastrophic thinking

Answer 14

a thinking style which involves overestimating, exaggerating or magnifying an object, activity or situation and predicting the worst possible outcome.

Question 15

specific environmental triggers

Answer 15

developing a specific phobia after a direct negative experience with an object or situation

Question 16

stigma around seeking treatment

Answer 16

embarrassment or shame about symptoms and concerns about being negatively judged by others may discourage people with a phobia from seeking treatment.

Question 17

Stigma

Answer 17

a sign of social disapproval or social deficiency, often involving shame or disgrace

Question 18

Social stigma

Answer 18

refers to the negative attitudes and beliefs held in the wider community that lead people to fear, exclude, avoid or unfairly discriminate against people with a mental health problem or disorder. It can influence how people with a phobia think and feel about themselves and the way they believe they are viewed by others in the community

Question 19

Self-stigma

Answer 19

occurs when an individual accepts the negative views and reactions of others, internalises them, and applies them to themself, thereby affecting how they feel about themself and leading to low self-esteem and low self-confidence in their abilities

can inhibit people from seeing a mental health professional for assessment and diagnosis, or from seeking any type of help, thereby increasing the troublesome impact of their phobia by increasing the duration of the untreated affects.