An psychological explanation to understand phobias are classical conditioning which is defined as a learning process which occurs when you have two stimuli and they are repeatedly…
A phobia is a persistent fear that is excessive or unreasonable which must meet a set of criteria given in the DSM. A clinical diagnosis is made if there is no other possible physiological cause and if the symptoms cannot be better accounted for by another disorder. The individual also recognises their behaviour is unreasonable and the severity of the fear interferes with an individual’s normal functioning.…
Agoraphobia is an intense fear of being in public places where escape or help is not readily available (Sue, Sue, Sue & Sue, 2013, p.132). Paula feared leaving her home desperately. Her biggest fear was having a panic attack while she was out as many do who suffer from agoraphobia. She would always…
Phobias- are anxiety disorders where an irrational fear that causes the person to fear and object, situation, or activity. It disrupts the lives of the people affected.…
A phobia is a fear that is so irrational that the amount of fear is not warranted by cause and it interferes with the daily functioning of the sufferer (Antczak, 2011). Classical conditioning leads to phobias by way of learning. An example of a phobia is seeing a needle and fainting. You may have had a bad experience with getting a shot so once you see the needle it may cause you to have a reaction to just the sight of it (Kowalski & Weston, 2011). You know as an adult that it is painless, but the phobia kicks in and may even cause you to faint. Another example of a phobia could be to sound. If you hear a car horn honk or tires screech, followed by a crash, you then may associate every honk or screech to a car accident and you will probably stay away from that part of the road in the future to avoid these…
Agoraphobia is an anxiety disorder where you fear situations or places that may cause you to feel trapped or embarrassed. Those with agoraphobia actually avoid places where they may be in enclosed spaces or out in public. Their anxiety stems from having one or more panic attacks. Because of these attacks they avoid the place or…
Millions of Americans suffer from phobias and addictions. Classical conditioning and Operant conditioning are psychological processes in which a person learns. Webster defines a phobia is an irrational fear towards a situation, object or thing, which in turn becomes a strong desire to prevent or avoid it. Common phobias include claustrophobia a fear of tight and closed in spaces, necrophobia is a fear of dead things in general however it is used to describe the fear of corpses. People who suffer from these and other phobias go to extensive lengths to avoid these things in question, when a sufferer cannot avoid the situation they will become overwhelmed with anxiety during the encounter or said activity. Many people have phobias from traumatic experiences that have taken place at different points in their lives. Phobias can also be caused by life experiences. If someone experiences a traumatic house fire they can develop the unreasonable fear of fire. This occurs when similar conditions are displayed or fire is present in certain situations.…
Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia is an anxiety disorder where a persons anxiety and fear is so intense that it causes them to not want to go places that they may not be able to escape. This may include places with large crowds, outside alone, on public transportation, or even being on a bridge. This usually results in the person rarely leaving his or her house.…
Nearly everyone in the world is scared of something, for example mice or needles. For many people these are minor fears. A fear is a rational response to a situation that possibly poses a threat to our safety. It is normal to experience fear in a dangerous situation. Sometimes these fears can be very serious and interfere with day to day life and create anxiety. This is called a phobia. Phobias are said to affect 11% of the Australian population.…
Self-preservation is said to be the reasoning behind the emotion of fear, in fact most fears our commonly shared among large groups of people. For instance the two most common phobias are; Arachnophobia the fear of spiders and Ophidiophobia the fear of snakes shared among most people in the United States today. The three level of fear are Internal, External and Subconscious, each level identifies with a certain situation that would bring that fear type reaction out of a person. Internal fear is conviction within you, external fear is something you would on all accounts avoid and subconscious fear is the act of your subconscious mind protecting you from an action it believes you should refrain from participating. I would safely say it is a natural part of living to have a fear of something, one would say it is human nature.…
The word “agoraphobia” comes from two Greek words that mean “fear” and “marketplace”. The anxiety associated with agoraphobia leads to avoidance of situations that involve being outside one’s home alone, being in crowds, being on a bridge, or traveling by car or public transportation. Agoraphobia may intensify to the point that it interferes with a person’s ability to take a job outside the home or to carry out such ordinary errands and activities as picking up groceries or going out to a movie.…
Phobias are very common. The Association of Psychiatry defines phobia as an excessive and persistent fear of a specific thing (American Psychiatric Association, 2012). Sally, who has a dog phobia since she was in second grade because of a negative experience has anxiety when she meets someone and is asked to go to a new place where she does not know if there is a dog present or not. To explain Sally’s phobia and how it was developed theories are used on how or why she developed the fear of dogs. Phobias can be explained by classical conditions, operant conditioning, and observational learning. Overcoming phobias can be done with extinction and cognitive theory.…
Simple phobias are from a single stimulus, for example fear of heights or enclosed spaces. Complex phobias are where there can be a number factors. For example, a person may have a fear of flying but within this are fears of a plane crash, enclosed places and a fear of losing control. Social phobias are those associated with what may happen when one is in the company of others (Module 5 Class Notes). There are primarily three categories: Agoraphobia, Social phobia and Specific phobia, which can then be subdivided into subtypes and finally conditions DSM-IV, 1994. Phobias may be the consequence of a number of factors. Stress and anxiety could result in the development of a phobia, directly linked to a specific stimulus. However, stress can also result in what is termed, ‘displaced phobias’. This is when an individual is experiencing stress in one aspect of their life but the phobia manifests in another. An example of this could be a person who is stressed in a work situation, developing a phobia of a bridge they pass everyday on their way to work. In this instance ‘displacing’ the stress from work, to the bridge. A phobia can also be caused by a cumulative impact of a series of negative experiences. For example, being held underwater as a child by a playful brother of sister. Later experiencing difficult or uncomfortable episodes with water, over time developing into a fear of being in water. Similar to anxieties, phobias can be learned or even…
Do you have something you’re afraid of? Almost everyone does and it is completely normal to have fears. But when those fears are excessive, unreasonable, and effecting your well being, they are called phobias.…
Agoraphobia - Fear of open spaces or of being in crowded, public places like markets. Fear of leaving a safe place. Fear of crowds.…