Fear and Anxiety

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Fear and Anxiety
Basic emotions experienced by everyone, Cut
across cultures, genders, ages, Necessary for
survival, Anxiety disorders account for most
mental health problems in the U.S.
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Fear
A strong fight/flight reaction to a specific,
observable danger cue that is present or imminent
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Anxiety
A diffuse, state of apprehension which can occur
in the absence of a cue, and is often
anticipatory.
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Phobia
An extreme, irrational fear of a specific object
that causes considerable distress, avoidance
behaviors, and panic.
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Common Phobias
Acraphobia - heights Scotophobia -
dark Arachnophobia - spiders Claustrophobia -
enclosed spaces
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Funny Phobias
Dextrophobia - left side of the body Lininophobia
- string Eophobia - dawn Hellenologophobia - fear
of scientific terms
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Acquisition of Phobias
Many assume that phobias are typically learned
through a process called classical conditioning
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Classical Conditioning
Neutral cue (conditioned stimulus) paired with
feared cue (unconditioned stimulus) over
multiple trials,
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Classical Conditioning
Eventually the neutral cue elicits a fear
reaction comparable to that elicited by the
feared cue,
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Classical Conditioning
This can occur incidentally in the natural
environment, or can be used as a laboratory
technique to study fear.
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Classical Conditioning
Early laboratory example was John Watsons
studies of Little Albert.
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Other Theories
Vicarious Learning - child learns from a parent
we learn from models to fear certain stimuli
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Other Theories
Informational Transmission - we learn from
nonhuman sources to fear certain stimuli
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Other Theories
Increased Baseline Anxiety - During stressful
times, we are more likely to experience acute
fears
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Fear Acquisition
Seligman asked - Are all cues equally likely to
become learned fear cues (conditioned stimuli)?
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Fear Acquisition
Seligman speculated that certain cues might have
been feared by our ancestors, this info would be
passed on through evolution.
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Fear Acquisition
Mineka tested the equipotentiality hypothesis in
monkeys using snakes and flowers as stimuli.
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Treatment of Phobias
Early treatment focused on the reciprocal
inhibition of fear through competing, displacing
responses (Wolpe)
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Treatment of Phobias
Examples of competing responses
included Relaxation Anger Hunger
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Treatment of Phobias
Systematic Desensitization (Wolpe) - Achieve
relaxed state Imaginal exposure using fear
hierarchy
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Systematic Desensitization
Problems Very difficult to relax while
fearful Relaxation worked as a
distractor Imaginal does not equal actual No
need for hierarchy Emotional processing
necessary.
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Emotional Processing
(Foa Kozak) Fear response must be activated
through exposure New, corrective information
must be integrated into the memory network.
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Emotional Processing
(Foa Kozak) Exposure must be experienced fully
for fear to reduce - distraction impedes fear
reduction!
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Emotional Processing
(Foa Kozak) Do not attempt to distract
yourself during unpleasant experiences, unless
they are one-time-only and short-lived.
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Anxiety Treatment
Take-home message EXPOSURE IS WHAT WORKS!WE
DONT NEED TO DO ANYTHING ELSE TO SUCCESSFULLY
TREAT A PHOBIA!
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Anxiety Disorders
Specific Phobia Social Phobia Generalized
Anxiety Disorder Panic Disorder Obsessive
Compulsive Disorder Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
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Social Phobia
People in the U.S. are more afraid of public
speaking than they are of death! Many people also
fear other social situations.
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Generalized Anxiety
Woody Allen syndrome. People with GAD worry
about everything when one worry is resolved, new
worries crop up!
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Panic Disorder
Panic Attacks Avoidance of certain
situations Anxiety Sensitivity Likely to show
other bodily-related syndromes.
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Obsessive Compulsive
Obsessions - bizarre, intrusive unwanted
thoughts Compulsions - Ritualistic, repetitive
actions lasting at least one hour/day.
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PosttraumaticStress Disorder
Traumatic event - involves actual threat of
death to self or others, response involves
horror, helplessness, or intense fear. Not
normal event.