Topic outline
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What: Specific phobias
Why: These are common disorders in the general population and among individuals seeking treatment, although they often may not seek treatment specifically for the phobia.![Abnormal Psychology [Source: Booktopia, https://www.booktopia.com.au/abnormal-psychology-4th-edition-elizabeth-rieger/book/9781743766620.html]](https://uo.unisa.edu.au/pluginfile.php/226305/mod_label/intro/abnormal-psychology-4th-edition%20v2.jpg)
Read the textbook
Read Section LO 2.2, 'Specific phobias', from Chapter 2 of the textbook. It discusses the diagnosis, epidemiology, aetiology and treatment of specific phobias, in the four sub-categories: animal phobias; natural environment phobias; blood, injection and injury phobias; and situational phobias.
Textbook reading: Section LO 2.2 from Chap 2, Rieger, E. (Ed.) 2017, Abnormal psychology: Leading researcher perspectives, 4th edition, McGraw Hill, Sydney.
Activity 2.2
In this activity, you will self-assess your understanding of classical conditioning and of the possible mechanisms of change used in exposure therapy, which is the most effective treatment for phobic disorders.
There are two screens in the activity. Answer the questions on each screen, and then click on the blue 'Check' button to see if you're correct.
Activity 2.3
The aim of this activity is for you to become familiar with mechanisms of change which can be effective therapy for phobias.
The video in this activity deals with a woman undergoing a type of exposure therapy for a specific phobia.
Identify the reasons why the therapy works, and Mariam's fear is reduced.
Although treatments are often based on one particular theory, there might be multiple explanations for why they work. It's often very hard to know for sure how and why treatments work and they may work for different reasons with different people. This is a major debate in the field today across numerous types of therapies.
However, whatever the mechanism, exposure is a very powerful treatment for phobic disorders and should definitely be considered the treatment of choice.
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