PSYA02H3 Chapter 17: Chapter17.doc
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PSYA02H3 Full Course Notes
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Chapter 17: the nature and causes of mental disorders. Phobic disorder persistent, irrational fears of specific objects or situations that makes someone"s life difficult. Dsm-iv recognizes 3: agoraphobia, social phobia and specific phobia. Agoraphobia characterized by fear of and avoidance of being alone in public places; most serious of disorders; often accompanied by panic attacks: more prevalent in women, likely to begin in mid-late 20s. If begins in childhood or adolescence more likely to disappear than if begins after adolescence; rarely appears after 30 years old. Psychoanalytical theory attributes phobias to distress caused by intolerable unconscious impulses or to displacement of objective sources of fear to symbolic sources (ie. fear of abusive parent to snake) Clinical psychologists and behavioural psychologists believe they are learned through classical conditioning direct or vicarious. Environmental causes learning: many people with traumatic events do not develop phobias and many, some objects more likely to be feared than others with phobias do not remember traumatic events.
