Phobia

1. Phobia www.psychlotron.org.uk • Main symptoms: • Marked and persistent fear • Anxiety response • Avoidance • Interferes with everyday activities • Duration 6 months or more • Affects 6-11% of population (more F) • Lifetime problem in 10% of cases

2. Explanations of Phobia www.psychlotron.org.uk • Biological • Genetics • Nervous system abnormalities • Psychological • Learning theory

3. Genetic Influences www.psychlotron.org.uk • Compare concordances of MZ & DZ twins • Greater similarity of MZ twins is assumed to indicate a genetic influence

4. Genetic Data (Simple Phobia) www.psychlotron.org.uk

5. Genetic Data (Simple Phobia) www.psychlotron.org.uk • MZ concordance usually significantly higher than DZ • Suggests genetic influence • MZ concordance always significantly lower than 100 • Indicates environmental influence is also in operation

6. Twin Studies www.psychlotron.org.uk • Commonly affected by several problems: • Small samples (NB: not always – check) • Unreliable zygosity tests (early studies only) • MZ twins tend to be treated more similarly than DZ, which may account for greater similarity • DZ twins can be M&F, which may be important with sex-differentiated disorders (like simple phobia)

7. Phobia – Biological Theories www.psychlotron.org.uk • The anxiety response in phobia involves the same structures & processes responsible for the stress response • Some researchers suspect that phobia involves abnormalities in these structures & processes

8. NS Reactivity www.psychlotron.org.uk • Liebowitz et al (1985) • Gave social phobics and controls air with increased CO2 content to stress them • Social phobics panicked significantly more often than controls • These and many similar results suggest that some types of phobia involve hyper-reactivity of the sympathetic NS

9. Amygdala Abnormalities www.psychlotron.org.uk • Part of the limbic system • Involved in processing of fear & startle stimuli Source: Hairiri et al, 2002 Amygdala

10. Amygdala Abnormalities www.psychlotron.org.uk • Pine (1999) • Compared amygdala responsiveness in social phobics and normal controls • Found that social phobics had more responsive amygdalae • Suggests that phobics may be more susceptible to fear-evoking stimuli

11. Amygdala Abnormalities www.psychlotron.org.uk • Hariri et al (2002) • Compared PPs with different types of 5HT receptors • Examined right amygdala responses to angry/fearful faces • Abnormal receptor group were significantly more responsive Source: Hairiri et al, 2002

12. Conclusions www.psychlotron.org.uk • Genetic research suggests that phobia susceptibility may be inherited • Some phobias appear more heritable than others (e.g. blood-injury; social) • Some phobias (esp. social) may be linked to abnormally responsive sympathetic NS and hyper-reactivity to fearful stimuli

13. Phobia – Psychological Theories www.psychlotron.org.uk • Phobias are acquired through learning from the environment • Classical conditioning • Operant conditioning • Social learning • Two process theory of phobia • Acquisition of phobia • Maintenance of phobic behaviour

14. Initial Acquisition www.psychlotron.org.uk • Through classical conditioning (direct): • Traumatic experience e.g. get bitten by a dog • False alarm e.g. have a panic attack in a lift • Through social learning (vicarious): • Observe fear in another e.g. parent • Hear about danger from another

15. Watson & Rayner(1920) wanted to use Classical Conditioning to Explain Phobias - conducted the "Little Albert" Study • Conditioned a phobia in an 11 month old boy to show that emotional responses can be conditioned • Prior to Conditioning Little Albert showed no fear to a white lab rat (neutral stimulus) • Little Albert showed fear response to loud surprising noise • Fear response (UCR); Loud noise (UCS)

16. After white rat was paired with the loud noise over a period of seven days, when white rat alone was shown to Little Albert he showed fear response • Fear response (CR); White rat (CS)

17. Little Albert showed generalization: • the production of a CR to a stimulus which is similar to the CS • For Example: • After the conditioning phase, presented Little Albert with other white furry things (w/o ever pairing them with UCS). He showed fear to a stuffed dog, a fur coat (seal), a rabbit, a Santa mask & Watson's hair!! NONE OF THESE ITEMS WERE EVER PAIRED WITH UCS. • Little Albert also showed stimulus discrimination: • not producing a CR to a stimulus that is different from the CS • For Example, When presented with blocks Little Albert did not show a fear response

18. Maintenance www.psychlotron.org.uk • Through operant conditioning: • Approaching phobic object/situation elicits conditioned anxiety response • Retreat from phobic object reduces anxiety • This acts as a (negative) reinforcer, so the more the person avoids the phobic object/situation the more likely they will continue to do so. • Others may unwittingly reinforce avoidance

19. Phobia www.psychlotron.org.uk • Hypotheses from learning theory: • Phobias should be traceable to an original learning experience • Should centre on situations/objects that are potentially harmful • Should be possible to condition and decondition phobias artificially

20. Phobias – psychodynamic view • Psychological disorders are a manifestation of repressed emotional problems • Phobias are symbols for other fears that the conscious mind can’t face • Unconscious fears are displaced onto innocuous objects psychlotron.org.uk

21. A symbolic link between the two Trauma Unresolved developmental issue Unacceptable fear that has been repressed Simple Phobia Conscious Fear & avoidance of a specific object or situation Unconscious psychlotron.org.uk

22. Oedipus complex Overbearing or excessively punitive father Fear of castration Simple Phobia Conscious Fear of sharp instruments, knives, scissors Unconscious psychlotron.org.uk

23. Oedipus - incomplete identification with mother? Sexual abuse? Fear of the phallus/sexual intercourse Simple Phobia Conscious Fear of snakes Unconscious psychlotron.org.uk