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Phobias - Coggle Diagram
Phobias
Symptoms
:red_flag: Intense, irrational fear of phobic stimulus
:red_flag: Recognising irrational fear doesn't reduce anxiety
:red_flag: Somatic symptoms
E.g. Fast/irregular heartbeat, hyperventilating, trembling, muscle tension
:red_flag: Emotional symptoms
E.g. Apprehension, panic, dread, intense anxiety
:red_flag: Behavioural symptoms
E.g. Sweating, blushing, goosebumps, avoidance/distracting behaviour, impaired daily functioning, fight/flight response
:red_flag: Cognitive symptoms
E.g. Catastrophic worry (taking events disproportionately out of context), hypervigilence (heightened sense of arousal + attention to threats), intrusive thoughts
Explanations
Psychodynamic:
- Id impulse repressed = Anxiety
- Phobia = Defence against anxiety
- Anxiety is displaced from feared id impulse to phobic stimulus
- Phobic stimulus symbolises id impulse
- Avoidance of phobic stimulus = Avoid facing true fear
Learning Theory:
- Classical Conditioning (e.g. Little Albert)
- Acquires phobia
- Person becomes conditioned to fear phobic stimulus
- Phobic stimulus = CS, produces Fear = CR
- Operant Conditioning (Reinforcement)
- Maintains phobia
- Negative reinforcement = avoidance behaviour provides relief, avoidance behaviour continues
Biological:
- Evolution
:heavy_check_mark: Biologically prepared to learn phobias, increase chances of survival
:heavy_check_mark: Ohman et al (1975) - Showed ppt picture of snake + hammer + gave electric shock
:heavy_check_mark: Feared snake picture alone, hammer picture = no fear
- Neuroscience
:heavy_check_mark: Amygdala overactivity, impaired activity in pre-frontal cortex (PFC)
:heavy_check_mark: Usually, PFC dampens effects of amygdala
Cognitive:
- Phobic beliefs = Thoughts about phobic stimulus, maintains phobia + avoidance behaviour
- Phobic beliefs = Explain why phobic stimulus is perceived as dangerous
- Intrusive thoughts about phobic stimulus
Biological:
- Genes
:heavy_check_mark: Greater concordance rate for MZ twins (50%) than DZ twins
- Epigenetics
:heavy_check_mark: Heritable changes in gene expression (active/inactive genes)
:heavy_check_mark: Change in PHENOTYPE, no change in GENOTYPE
:heavy_check_mark: Dias + Ressler (2013) - Conditioned fear in mice transmitted to future generations
Prevalence
:!: 60% of general population report 'unreasonable' fears (Davey, 2014)
:!: Lifetime prevalence = 7.4% (Wardenaar et al, 2017)
-
:!: High comorbidity with other disorders (E.g. PD, depression etc)
:!: Approx. 60% experience at least one other condition (About 70% of these, phobia precedes other disorder)
Treatments
Flooding:
- Individual exposed to their trigger stimulus at worst state
- Often in vivo
Systematic desensitisation:
- Taught relaxation techniques
- Gradual exposure to feared stimulus
- Use stimulus hierarchy (low-high intensity)
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT):
- Address dysfunctional thoughts + biases
- Cognitive restructuring - Combat phobic beliefs