Ab2 Fear Vs. Phobia

Front 1

Phobias

Back 1

persistent and unreasonable fears of particular objects, activities, or situations (3 types)
1. agoraphobia
2. Social phobias
3. Specific phobias
-2x more likely in women

Front 2

Fear vs. Phobia

Back 2

Fear:
normal and common experience
Phobias:
1. more intense
2. greater desire to avoid feared object/situation
3. distress which interferes with functionality

Front 3

Social Phobias ( 3 kinds)

Back 3

Intense excessive fear of being scrutinized in one or more social or performance situations
1. Performance:
public speaking, playing instrument, public restrooms
2. Limited interactional:
excessive fear only in specific situations like on a date or talking with authority figure
3. Generalized
extreme anxiety in most social situations

Front 4

Social phobias facts

Back 4

-greatly interfere with functioning
-women outnumber men
-often begin in childhood an dmay persist
-fewer than 20% seek treatment

Front 5

Specific phobias (5 subtypes)

Back 5

persistent fears of specific objects or situations
1. animal
2. natural environment ( storms, thunder)
3. blood/injections/injury
4. situational (heights, airplanes)
5. Other (situations leading to choking/illness)

Front 6

Specific phobias facts

Back 6

many suffer from more than one at a time
-2x more likely in women

Front 7

Biological dimension for phobias

Back 7

-overactivation of amygdala
-species-specific predisposition
" biological preparedness" - some phobias more common than others
-doesn't explain survival value of fear of eating in public etc...

Front 8

psychological dimension for phobias (psychodynamic)

Back 8

-unconscious conflicts displaced from original internal source to external objects or situations
ex: agoraphobia (fear of leaving home b/c of unconscious fear of acting out sexual impulses)
-LITTLE to NO research support

Front 9

Psychological Dimensions for phobias
(Behavioral/learning)

Back 9

1. classical conditioning
-chemo and kool-aid
2. operant conditioning
-elevator phobia maintined through avoidance (negative reinforcement)
3. observational learning (modeling)

Front 10

psychological dimensions for phobias
(cognitive)

Back 10

1.self defeating thoughts and irrational beliefs
2. overprediction of danger
3. oversensitivity to threatening cues

Front 11

Sociocultural dimension

Back 11

1. culturally distinct phobias
(Hikikomori- young shut-ins)
2. child-rearing patterns (more common in familes/cultures who use shame as method of control)
3. Gender differences

Front 12

How phobias treated

Back 12

behavioral treatments most widely used, because highly effective (especially for specific phobias)

Front 13

Treatment for specific phobias

Back 13

1. systematic desensitization
2. flooding
3. modeling
4. virtual reality therapy

Front 14

Treatment for social phobias

Back 14

1. respond to medication
2. psychological treatments only recently successful b/c must address
a. overwhelming social fear
b. lack of social skills