What are the Characteristics of Phobias? (HL IB Psychology)

Types of phobias

• Phobias fall under the category of anxiety disorders

• A phobia is a fear (often irrational) of specific objects/organisms (e.g. ophidiophobia, fear of snakes), situations (e.g. aerophobia, fear of flying) or concepts (e.g. athazagoraphobia, fear of being forgotten) which trigger extreme anxiety in the phobic person

• The DSM-5 classifies phobias into five categories as follows:

• Specific animal phobias which include:

  • arachnophobia (fear of spiders)

• Specific natural environment phobias which include:

  • astraphobia (fear of thunder and lightning)

• Specific blood-injection-injury phobias which include:

  • trypanophobia (fear of injections)

• Specific situational phobias which include:

  • claustrophobia (fear of enclosed spaces)

• Other phobias which do not fit into the above categories which include:

  • ecclesiophobia (fear of churches)

  • coulrophobia (fear of clowns)

  • ligyrophobia (fear of loud noises)

• Living with a phobia can be extremely difficult for the phobic person (and their friends and family) as it has a debilitating effect on the person’s ability to live a fulfilling and happy life (particularly if the phobia focuses on events or objects that are encountered on a daily basis e.g. fear of water; fear of other people)

The Behavioural Characteristics of Phobias

• Behavioural characteristics of phobias involve the behavioural responses (obviously) which describe the phobic person’s response to the phobic stimulus e.g. what the person does, how they behave when confronted with the phobic stimulus

• One of the most commonly experienced behavioural responses to a phobic stimulus is panic, a response which sends the phobic person into a state of high stress and anxiety

• Panic involves the phobic person responding in the following ways:

  • ‘Freezing’ on the spot

  • Crying, screaming or shrieking

  • Running away

  • Passing out/fainting

• Another commonly experienced behavioural response to a phobic stimulus is avoidance

• Avoidance involves the phobic person responding in the following ways:

  • Going out of their way to avoid the phobic stimulus (e.g. by never booking a holiday which involves a flight)

  • Taking steps to ensure that they are not going to be confronted by the phobic stimulus (e.g. by refusing all invitations to social events)

  • By informing other people of their phobia so that any visitors to their home or colleagues at work are aware not to introduce the phobic stimulus into the setting or into the conversation (e.g. friends and colleagues are asked not to talk about illness in the presence of the phobic person)

Koumpounophobia (fear of buttons) may seem trivial to a lot of people: but not for those who suffer with this particular phobia.

The Cognitive Characteristics of Phobias

• Cognitive characteristics of phobias involve the irrational thinking, cognitive distortions and selective attention i.e. how the person thinks about the phobic stimulus; the ways in which they process information surrounding the phobic stimulus

• Irrational thinking and cognitive distortions surrounding the phobic stimulus might involve the phobic person believing the following:

  • ‘If I touch cotton wool it might get into my bloodstream and cause a heart-attack’

  • ‘What if I talk to a new person at a party and they laugh at me and tell everyone that I’m stupid?’

  • ‘If I use this escalator I could get my clothes caught up in the machinery and I will be horribly injured’

• Selective attention involves the phobic person becoming fixated on the phobic stimulus and unable to draw their attention away from it

• Selective attention surrounding the phobic stimulus might involve the phobic person behaving in the following ways:

  • Staring at someone’s shirt buttons at a party due to the fear that the buttons will choke someone

  • Not being able to keep up a conversation with a friend in a cafe because a man with a beard is sitting at the next table

  • Intently watching a cat sitting on the garden fence in case it tries to enter the house via an open window

The Emotional Characteristics of Phobias

• The primary emotion experienced in the presence of a phobic stimulus is anxiety

• A phobic response is an extreme emotional response which is usually out of proportion to the threat posed by the phobic stimulus e.g. xanthophobia is the fear of the colour yellow (it is difficult to think of many situations - if any at all - where the colour yellow poses a threat to life)

• Although some phobias (see the above example) may seem irrational or even silly to others, they are very real to the phobic person, resulting in exhausting emotional output for them, sometimes on a daily basis

• The phobic person generally knows that  their response is disproportionate to the phobic stimulus but they still feel fear when confronted with it