Specific Phobia Essay

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It is estimated that more than 40% of the general population suffers from one or more fear of a specific object or situation (Williams 1987). If a fear becomes excessive or unreasonable it is termed a phobia. Phobias can lead to significant impairment in daily life (Vigerland 2013). Specific phobia is an anxiety disorder that is defined as an unreasonable or irrational fear that has a negative impact on daily living, having a life-time prevalence rate of over 10%, specific phobias are the most prevalent group of mental disorders Five main categories are distinguished: animal type, natural environment type, situational type, blood-injury-injection type, and other type (Van Houtem 2013). The subtypes of specific phobia differ greatly in terms of prevalence, sex distribution, and age of onset (Burnstein 2012). The development of specific phobia can be best understood by the classical conditioning model; the paring of a conditioned stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus which automatically evokes a fear response (e.g. Watson & Rayner 1920). Conditioning theory states that objects and situations that are irrationally feared resemble previous distressing experiences (Van Houtem 2013). For a number of specific phobias other factors, including genetic susceptibility (see Van Houtem 2013), may play a role in the development of specific phobias. Specific phobias can be treated a number of ways, the most effective being one session treatments (Ollendick &Davis 2013) and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (see Vigerland 2013).
Children can be conditioned to express emotional reactions in certain situations or to certain stimuli. This conditioning may happen intentionally, as in the study described below, or unintentionally (Watson & Rayner 1920). E...

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...ol group, indicting that the results should be interpreted cautiously (Vigerland 2013).
A large percentage of the general population suffer from specific phobia, or the possibility of obtaining a specific phobia during their lifetime (Williams 1987). A specific phobia, termed so because of the excessive or unreasonable fear it exerts in an individual (Van Houtem 2013), has the capacity to seriously inhibit or impact an individual’s daily living. The blood-injury-injection type and the other type are the most dominant phobias effecting the general population. Specific phobias can be developed in a number of ways, including the pairing of a conditioned stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus automatically evoking a fear response, and genetic susceptibility (Van Houtem 2013). Specific Phobias often resemble previous distressing experiences (Van Houtem 2013).

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