AOS 2 Biopsychosocial model and

phobias
Work Requirement
Make notes on the following in order to be able to complete your SAC.

Biological
Causes Notes
Genetic Predisposition  Having a close family member with a
mental illness can increase the risk.
However, this doesn't mean other
family members will have it.

Stress response  The activation of autonomic nervous

system response in the face of a
stressor
 fat flat freeze response is a biological
response to a stressor as the stressor
evokes fear
GABA  Insufficient neural transmission or
reception of GABA in the body
 GABA is the main inhibitory
neurotransmitter
 prevents over excitation and
uncontrolled firing
 slows or stops the excitatory
neurotransmitters (postsynaptic )
 strong correlation between GABA
dysfunction and anxiety disorders
 could be for several reasons
 insufficient production, transmission or
reception
Role of amygdala  commonly associated with emotions
(especially fear). The amygdala is
responsible for connecting the fear-
arousing stimulus with the
environmental context in which it is
occurring.
 Individuals who suffer from phobias
have been shown to display increased
activity of the amygdala when exposed
to phobia-inducing stimuli, noted on
functional MRI. The amygdala is known
to be associated with emotional
reactions.
Long Term potentiation  long lasting and experience driven
strengthening of synaptic Connections
 neural plasticity where “neurons that
fire together wire together”
 Consistent fear associated to the
stimulus at a young age will lead to LTP
and elicit a fear response later in life
(but it must be maintained )
Treatments
Benzodiazapenes  Benzodiazapines are short acting anti
anxiety medication
 benzos work by amplifying the
inhibitory GABA dysfunction at the
synapse
 Benzodiazapines is an agonist
 an agonist is a type of drug that
imitates neurotransmitters, initiating a
neural response at the receptor site
 benzos bind to G ABA receptor sites,
enhancing inhibition, reducing anxiety
 note that benzos do not produce an
inhibitory effect . Rather, it enhances
the effect of the GABA that is present
 they can have excitatory effects as well
as inhibitory
Relaxation techniques  Re engagement of the parasympathetic
nervous system to counter a biological
stress response
 two techniques to consider
 breathing retraining
 exercise
 Breathing control techniques that can
be employed when facing a phobic
stimulus
 slow deep breath in through the nose,
hold it and count, slow exhalation
through the mouth
 practised in the presence of phobic
stimulus, it can restore optimal oxygen
levels and reduced sympathetic
nervous system function
 Physical activity employed to improve
well being
 work off stress hormones -cortisol and
adrenaline (includes high intensity
exercise )
 promotes mood enhancing chemicals
like endorphins
 meditative effect.
 Psychological
Causes
Classical Conditioning
Operant conditioning
Cognitive Biases
Treatments
Notes
 Precipitating risk factor
 high risk factor that increases the
susceptibility to and contributes to the
occurrence of a mental health disorder
 precipitation by classical conditioning
 Involuntary Association of two stimuli
little Albert and white rat
 with specific phobias
 a phobic stimulus starts as NS
 repeated Association with the UCS
natural fear response
 NS becomes the CS and the CR is the
phobic response
 Perpetuating risk factor
 a risk factor that inhibits a person's
ability to recover from a mental health
disorder
 bad home
 perpetuating by operant conditioning
 the most relevant stages consequense
 recovery is prevented because the
consequences of avoidance removes
the phobic response
 a predisposition to think about and
process information in a certain way
 This can lead to phobias because the
people perceive benign stimuli to be a
threat
 memory bias
 a form of cognitive bias caused by
inaccuracy or exaggeration in the recall
of an event
 sing a small spider and claiming it was
giant
 catastrophic thinking
 a form of cognitive bias in which the
stimulus or event is predicted to be far
worse than it is likely to be in reality
 about a future event rather than a past
event
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Systematic Desensitisation
Social
Causes
Specific Environmental triggers
 A form of psychotherapy that helps
people to replace undesired thoughts
and behaviours with more positive
ones
 memory bias, catastrophic thinking,
stigma, hopelessness, fear are all
thoughts that contributes to phobias
 avoidance (of stimulus and of
socialising ), stress response, not
seeking help are all behaviours that
contributes to phobias
 CBT process
 identify the triggers
 assess and challenge undesired
cognitions and behaviours
 with specific phobias, question
rationality of the fear
 keep record of thoughts and
behaviours to help with this
 now that the person is aware, replace
thoughts and behaviours with more
positive ones
 A therapy technique used to overcome
phobias by exposing them to
incrementally increasing anxiety
inducing stimuli
 used in conjunction with relaxation
techniques
 conditioned response, so use classical
conditioning to recondition
 Systematic desensitisation steps
 learn relaxation techniques
 develop a fear hierarchy (list in order
by fear the degrees of Association )
 work up the hierarchy until No Fear
response with direct exposure
Notes
 Stimuli or experiences in a persons
environment that prompt an extreme
stress response
 traumatic experiences with the

Stigma around seeking treatment
environment that lead to the
development of a phobia such as
 direct confrontation
 observing someone else experiencing
trauma
 learning about potential trauma
indirectly
 A sense of shame that someone may
feel about getting professional help
 the irrational nature (known to the
sufferer) of their phobia leads to
potential embarrassment

Treatments
Psycho-education  Information about the condition and
how it is treated (also given to support
network )
 other interventions include:
 challenging unrealistic thoughts, which
is when the support network works
together to remind the sufferer of the
irrational nature of their fear.
 Not encouraging avoidance
 Support network taught to encourage
confrontation of the fear rather than
enabling avoidance