specific phobia

Question 1

specific phobia

Answer 1

• persistent irrational intense fear of a particular object or event
• interference with a person’s social functioning

Question 2

four types of specific phobia

Answer 2

• animal phobias (fear of snakes)
• natural environment phobias (fear of heights)
• situation phobias (fear of enclosed spaces)
• blood injection injury phobia (fear of medical procedures)

Question 3

mental health continuum of specific phobia

Answer 3

• healthy
• reacting
• injured
• disorder

Question 4

‘healthy’ stage

Answer 4

• fear in a normal range
• if a fear of spiders, they might ask a friend to catch it
• socially active
• physically well

Question 5

‘reacting’ stage

Answer 5

• common and reversible distress
• procrastination
• trouble sleeping

Question 6

‘injured’ stage

Answer 6

• phobic symptoms impact their functioning
• avoidance behaviours
• decreased performance

Question 7

‘disorder’ stage

Answer 7

• mental disorder that requires significant intervention
• unable to fall asleep
• isolation

Question 8

mean age for selected phobias

Answer 8

animal - 7
blood - 9
dental - 12
claustrophobia - 20

Question 9

biological factors that contribute to the maintenance of specific phobia

Answer 9

• FFF response
• GABA and glutamate
• genetic predisposition and inherited vulnerabilities

Question 10

FFF response

Answer 10

• elevated blood pressure

- palpitations

Question 11

role of amygdala and hippocampus

Answer 11

amygdala
- initiating and processing emotional responses such as fear
hippocampus
- formation of declarative memories

Question 12

GABA and glutamate

Answer 12

• if a person has low levels of GABA and high levels of glutamate, increases agitation and anxiety and contribute to the development of a specific phobia

Question 13

genetic predisposition and inherited vulnerabilities

Answer 13

• not the phobia but the genetic makeup, e.g. being born with low levels of GABA
• or personality; person who is apprehensive about environmental objects and events are more likely to develop the phobia

Question 14

long term potentiation

Answer 14

• experience the phobia, strengthened amygdala-hippocampus neural pathway resulting in LTP
• thus the phobic response is easier to trigger in the future

Question 15

precipitation of specific phobia through classical conditioning

Answer 15

• learnt through classical conditioning and maintained by operant conditioning
• we can develop fear to a neutral stimulus because we are conditioned to associate it with fear

Question 16

precipitation of specific phobia through operant conditioning

Answer 16

• avoidance behaviour is a negative reinforcer strengthening the likelihoof of that behaviour being repeated

Question 17

cognitive bias

Answer 17

• systematic error in thinking that affects the decisions and judgements that people make

Question 18

memory bias

Answer 18

• inaccurate encoding of memory

- thus every time a person thinks of it, it is usually more catastrophic than it really is

Question 19

catastrophic thinking

Answer 19

• worst case scenario

- overestimates the threat

Question 20

attentional bias

Answer 20

• preference for noticing threat relevant information as they remain more alert to their environment

Question 21

environmental triggers

Answer 21

• direct exposure
• witnessing other people
• reading or hearing about it

Question 22

parental modelling

Answer 22

• transmission of threat information

Question 23

stigma around seeking treatment

Answer 23

• due to embarrassment, shame, distress are less likely to seek assistance

Question 24

anti anxiety treatment

Answer 24

• anti anxiety drugs that mimic GABA’s inhibitory effects

- usually sufficient

Question 25

breathing retraining

Answer 25

- under stress, over breathe (hyperventilation) | - taught slow breathing techniques to manage effects of hyperventilation

Question 26

exercise

Answer 26

- during stress, stress hormones and glucose are released into the blood stream and if we are not physically active, likely to experience hand tremors

Question 27

CBT specific phobia

Answer 27

- verbal and behavioural modifications | - focuses on helping a person change negative dysfunctional thoughts and replace with more positive realistic ones

Question 28

CBT process

Answer 28

Normally - exposed to object or situation (stimulus), negative thought slead to an emotional (distress) and biological (FFF) response, alters behaviour (actively avoids the object or situation) - in CBT, recognise unrealistic and based on incorrect assumptions and are taught to monitor their negative thoughts in an 'automatic thought diary'.

Question 29

systematic desensitisation

Answer 29

- assumption that it is developed through classical conditioning, and can be achieved through counter conditioning or weakening the associated between the conditioned stimulus and conditioned response

Question 30

3 steps of systematic desensitisation

Answer 30

- deep muscle relaxation - client makes a list of anxiety causing stimuli that are linked to their specific phobia from least to most - client works through hierarchy, learning to remain relaxed while imagining each stimuli; repeated until no anxiety

Question 31

SD effectiveness

Answer 31

- less effective for performance fears

Question 32

psychoeducation

Answer 32

- educating sufferer of the mental disorder and help dispel any myths - have cooperation of family and friends

Question 33

ways of psychoeducation

Answer 33

- do not encourage avoidance behaviour - encourage positive thinking - provide evidence to help with catastrophic thinking