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Psychopathology - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Classical Conditioning: a phobia is acquired through the association of a stimulus with a response
        Operant Conditioning: how a phobia is maintained - negative reinforcement is when the individual avoids a situation that is unpleasant (avoid the phobic stimulus) allows them to escape the fear and anxiety and then the reduction in fear reinforces the avoidance behaviour and maintains the phobia
      - AO3: Strength - allows for phobias to be tested in an objective way - a study on the two-process model pairing a buzzer sound with an electric shock - used negative reinforcement to train rats to escape the shock when the buzzer sounded - increases scientific validity of the explanation
        AO3: Strength - practical applications - several behavioural therapies that use conditioning to treat phobias e.g. systematic desensitisation uses classical conditioning to unlearn phobias - study found 75% of phobic patients showed improved symptoms after treatment - strengthens validity
      - AO3: Weakness - incomplete explanation as it fails to explain the role of evolution in peoples fears - study found that people are innately predisposed to fear things like snakes and spiders as they are a source of danger in the past - also explains why people fear things they've never encountered - explanation may be too simplistic and there might be more to phobias than conditioning
        AO3: Weakness - doesn't explain the cognitive aspects of phobias - irrational thoughts create extreme anxiety and may trigger a phobia - fails to explain a vital component of a phobia
  - - - AO3: Strength - proven to be effective to treat phobias - study found 75% patients had improvements in symptoms after systematic desensitisation - supporting evidence that shows the treatments effectiveness
        AO3: Strength - most sufferers prefer it to the alternative treatment of flooding - avoids the trauma that flooding can cause - supported with the fact that systematic desensitisation has low drop out rates compared to flooding
      - AO3: Weakness - not effective for all phobias - cannot be effective in treating phobias that have an underlying evolutionary aspect e.g. fear of heights - reduces the usefulness of the treatment - also only effective in patients who have the imaginations to conjure up the phobic stimulus and/or those able to effectively use the relaxation techniques - therefore not the most appropriate
    - - A03: Strength - cost effective treatment - just as effective as SD and it is quicker and more cost effective - only one session as opposed to multiple - cheaper than SD to get rid of phobic response
      - AO3: Weakness - highly traumatic for patients - not unethical as patients have given informed consent but most don't want to finish the session - means time and money is wasted as the individual then refuses to take part or bails on the treatment
        AO3: Weakness - not effective for all types of phobias - behavioural treatments cant fix irrational thoughts surrounding the phobia - other forms of treating phobias may be more effective e.g. CBT as it treats the thoughts - flooding is restricted to specific phobias