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Phobia Perspective

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Selected perspectives on the etiologies of Phobias.

“I just feel really closed in, I feel like my heart is going to start beating really fast…I won’t be able to get enough air, I won’t be able to breathe, and I’ll pass out.”

A Phobia is “a persistent fear of circumscribed stimulus (object or situation)” and the common examples include fear of animals, heights and enclosed places. (DSM-III R: 243). Phobias in general are classified as ‘Anxiety disorders’ in DSM –IV and are considered the most common type of all anxiety disorders. Everyone has aversions to certain objects or situations, which result in making us feel unusually uncomfortable, anxious in some cases, or just fearful- when encountered with them. But when this aversion becomes …show more content…
However which exact learning mechanism is adopted and what is learnt in the process of developing the phobia are questionable as the behavioural theories are different from one another. As per this approach, phobias are developed due to, Classical Conditioning, Operant Conditioning and Social Learning …show more content…
Here the fearful response is experienced as a result of the interpretation or distorted appraisal of events. Leading theorists in this field Albert Ellis (1962) and Aaron Beck (1963) suggest that the above mentioned factors contribute substantially to the development of a phobia. The interpretation of the event is what generates the phobia and not the event itself. For instance, every individual who has had a traumatic incident with a dog does not develop a phobia, yet a few do and this is because these individuals have focused more on the possible re-occurrence in the future and consequently become frightened. (Di Nardo cited in Klausch 2008). They begin to have irrational thoughts about a situation or an object and prompt conditions like paranoia and overthinking which would result in them becoming intensely anxious about it and contemplate worst case scenarios and countless ‘what if’ situations and make predictions in their minds. After this catastrophic thought process making rounds in their heads they are more reluctant and vulnerable to develop a phobia as they have convinced themselves that they’re terrified about something. Distorted appraisals or cognitive distortions are extreme negative thoughts that can result in conditions like phobias. These distortions take a few forms, examples include overgeneralization, filtering, catastrophising, mind reading,

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