Question 1

Biopsychosocial approach

Accepted Answer

a holistic, interdisciplinary
framework for
understanding the human
experience in terms of the
influence of biological,
psychological, and
social factors

Question 2

Biological factors

Accepted Answer

internal, genetic, and/or
physiologically
based factors, can be innate, such as genetic predispositions passed down from one’s parents, or can come
about later in life, such as through taking certain medications

Question 3

Psychological factors

Accepted Answer

internal factors relating
to an individual’s mental
processes, including their
cognition, affect, thoughts,
beliefs, and attitudes

Question 4

Social factors

Accepted Answer

external factors relating
to an individual’s
interactions with others
and their external
environment, including
their relationships and
community involvement

Question 5

There are two biological factors that contribute to SP

Accepted Answer

gaba dysfunction , long term potentiation

Question 6

GABA (Gamma-amino
butyric acid)

Accepted Answer

the main
inhibitory neurotransmitter
in the nervous system, regulates postsynaptic activation in neural pathways, preventing overexcitation and uncontrolled firing. important in flight fight freeze response as it slows the excitatory nueral impulse

Question 7

GABA dysfunction

Accepted Answer

insufficient neural
transmission or reception
of GABA in the body

Question 8

what is GABA dysfunction due to

Accepted Answer

low level or production of GABA, or an insufficient reception
or transmission of GABA across the synapse

Question 9

GABA dysfunction can contribute to the
development of phobia because:

Accepted Answer

may cause someone’s
flightfightfreeze or anxiety response
to be activated more easily than someone with
adequate GABA levels. 
• recurrent stress responses to specific stimuli
can lead to the development of a phobia.

Question 10

Long-term potentiation

Accepted Answer

the long-lasting and
experience-dependent
strengthening of synaptic
connections that are
regularly coactivated

Question 11

how does This contributes to the development of phobias pt 1

Accepted Answer

strengthen the association between neural signals involved in perceiving a stimulus and neural
signals involved in activating the FR.

Question 12

how does This contributes to the development of phobias pt 2

Accepted Answer

Through their repeated coactivation, the signals
involved in perceiving a phobic stimulus more readily trigger the activation of the neural signals of  FR

Question 13

what is the result

Accepted Answer

The more this occurs, the stronger the association
becomes, and the stronger the phobia becomes.

Question 14

psychological factors

Accepted Answer

precipitation by classical conditioning, perputaation by operat conditioing, role of cognitve biases

Question 15

Classical conditioning

Accepted Answer

contribute to the development of phobias by increasing susceptibility to and contributing
to their occurrence. This can be described as precipitation by classical conditioning.

Question 16

Precipitating factors

Accepted Answer

factors that
increase the susceptibility
to and contribute to the
occurrence of developing
a specific phobia

Question 17

classical condition in terms of contrubting to phobia

Accepted Answer

classical conditioning can
precipitate specific phobia as phobias can be learned, and therefore developed, through
classical conditioning.

Question 18

simuli

Accepted Answer

phobis stimulus=netral stimulus
repeated association with unconditioned stimuls nautually induced fear, NS becomes the CS or phobic stimulus producing the conditioned response or phobic response

Question 19

Operant conditioning

Accepted Answer

operant conditioning perpetuates
phobias by preventing an individual from overcoming them, The role of operant conditioning in phobias can be
thought about largely in terms of the consequence
stage

Question 20

Perpetuating factors

Accepted Answer

factors that inhibit
a person’s ability to recover
from a specific phobia

Question 21

consequence stage pt 1

Accepted Answer

an individual with a phobia will generally avoid
contact with their phobic stimulus at all costs.
• by avoiding confrontation with the phobic
stimulus, a person is negatively reinforced
through this avoidance

Question 22

onsequence stage pt 2

Accepted Answer

over time, this reinforcement strengthens
or maintains the phobic response, making
avoidance behaviours more likely to be repeated
and preventing recovery through this cycle.`

Question 23

Cognitive bias

Accepted Answer

a predisposition to
think about and process
information in a certain way

Question 24

what does it do

Accepted Answer

may cause errors in people’s judgements and thoughts. Cognitive biases contribute to
phobias because some people consider certain stimuli as particularly harmful, dangerous or scary

Question 25

Memory bias

Accepted Answer

a type
of cognitive bias
caused by inaccurate or
exaggerated memory

Question 26

Memory bias contribute

Accepted Answer

people may remember the trauma as
extremely significant or harmful, and this impacts their present cognitions about related
stimuli, this innacurate memeory serves to jutofy the extreme fear allowing it to persust over time in their mind

Question 27

Catastrophic thinking

Accepted Answer

a type of cognitive bias
in which a stimulus or
event is predicted to be far
worse than it actually is

Question 28

Catastrophic thinking  contribute

Accepted Answer

often imagine the worst-case scenario
possible when imagining an interaction with their phobic stimulus. This contributes to
phobia, making stimuli seem worthy of extreme fear and anxiety

Question 29

social factors

Accepted Answer

• specific environmental triggers
• stigma around seeking treatment.

Question 30

Specific environmental
triggers

Accepted Answer

stimuli or
experiences in a person’s
environment that evoke
an extreme stress
response, leading to the
development of a phobia

Question 31

There are a few different types of environmental triggers, including:

Accepted Answer

• direct confrontation with a traumatic stimulus or event
• observing another person having a direct confrontation with a traumatic stimu.lus or event,
• learning about a potentially dangerous or traumatic stimulus or event indirectly

Question 32

Stigma

Accepted Answer

the feeling
of shame or disgrace
experienced by an individual
for a characteristic that
differentiates them
from others

Question 33

how

Accepted Answer

As phobias tend to involve some degree of irrational fear, seeking help can be very difficult,might feel as though their phobia is too embarrassing or insignificant to seek professional
help, or unusual and isolated from society in some way for doing so.

Question 34

stigma contributes

Accepted Answer

Leaving one’s phobia untreated also contributes to the development and maintenance of
specific phobia. Often, people will not seek help due to embarrassment, worry, or fear.

Question 35

Biological interventions

Accepted Answer

gaba agonists, breathing retraining

Question 36

GABA agonists

Accepted Answer

lack
of inhibitory neural transmission in the body leads to over-excitation at the synapses, inability to regulate neural firing can lead to feelings of anxiety. Therefore, combatting
GABA dysfunction can reduce the development of specific phobi

Question 37

Benzodiazepines

Accepted Answer

a type of
medication that depresses
central nervous system
activity and is often used
as a short-acting antianxiety medication , are agonists

Question 38

agonists

Accepted Answer

a type of
drug that imitates
neurotransmitters and
works to initiate a neural
response (excitatory or
inhibitory) when it binds
to the receptor sites of
a neuron

Question 39

how does bezodiazepines treat gaba dysfunction

Accepted Answer

benzodiazepines bind to GABA receptor sites and mimic the effects of GABA to increase
its inhibitory response.

Question 40

what does this do

Accepted Answer

By inducing inhibitory responses, the rapid excitatory communication
between neurons in the fear response is reduced, relieving the anxiety it causes and leading to the
relaxation of muscles.

Question 41

Breathing retraining

Accepted Answer

a method used to
teach breathing control
techniques that may
reduce physiological
arousal, can be used by an individual when they
are experiencing anxiety in the presence of their phobic stimulus

Question 42

what happens to breathing during SP

Accepted Answer

when facing their phobic stimulus, they often experience fast, shallow breathing as their
sympathetic nervous system becomes dominant. This can lead to hyperventilation and the
engagement of other sympathetic nervous system responses-increased anxiety

Question 43

step 1 of breathing retraining

Accepted Answer

psychologist/doctor will teach how to consciously
control their breathing. 
• slow deep inhalations thenslow controlled exhalations
• counting slowly when breathing in/out
• breathing slowly in through the nose breathing out slowly from the
diaphragm

Question 44

step 2

Accepted Answer

The learner applies the breathing techniques learnt in step 1 when in the presence
of a phobic stimulus. eg by counting aloud or in their head, or imagining
the therapist saying the instructions to them when in the presence of the phobic
stimulus.

Question 45

what does this do

Accepted Answer

restores the amount of oxygen in the body to an optimal level to help the
parasympathetic nervous system become dominant, in turn decreasing the dominance
of the sympathetic nervous system and reducing anxiety.

Question 46

Psychological interventions

Accepted Answer

Cognitive behavioural
therapy (CBT)
Systematic desensitisation

Question 47

Psychotherapeutic treatments

Accepted Answer

treatments
that address dysfunctional
emotions, thoughts,
and behaviours
through therapeutic
communication

Question 48

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)

Accepted Answer

a form
of psychotherapy that
encourages individuals to
substitute dysfunctional
cognitions and behaviours
with more adaptive ones

Question 49

The cognitive component involves:

Accepted Answer

– identifying negative thoughts and feelings (cognitions) about the issue.
– replacing these negative thoughts and feelings with more positive ones.

Question 50

• The behavioural component involves:

Accepted Answer

– identifying negative behaviours relating to the issue.
– developing and maintaining more positive behaviours relating to the issue.

Question 51

what do when treating an indivdual

Accepted Answer

a therapist first has to work with
the patient to identify their cognitions and behaviours that may perpetuate and contribute . Once identified, the therapist and counsellor can then work to modify
these unhealthy cognitions and behaviours

Question 52

Cognitions  eg

Accepted Answer

Memory bias
• Catastrophic thinking
• A belief that the phobia can never be
overcome
• A belief that the phobia can only get worse
• Embarrassment
• Extreme fear

Question 53

behaviours eg

Accepted Answer

Avoidance behaviours in which a person
avoids their phobic stimulus and anything
related to it at all costs
• Not seeking help
• Avoiding social activities that may expose
a person to their phobia

Question 54

how do these behaviours and cognitions work

Accepted Answer

The presence of these cognitions and behaviours can mutually reinforce each other and
perpetuate a phobia and a stress response

Question 55

what happens Once the individual understands the interrelationship between dysfunctional behaviours
and cognition

Accepted Answer

a therapist will work with them to develop strategies to overcome them, involves identifying both cognitions and behaviours that are healthier, which could
potentially replace the dysfunctional ones. C:
challenging them as hypotheses, B: healthier ones

Question 56

Systematic desensitisation

Accepted Answer

a therapeutic technique
used to overcome
phobias that involves a
patient being exposed
incrementally to
increasingly anxietyinducing stimuli, combined
with the use of relaxation
techniques

Question 57

how does it work

Accepted Answer

. Systematic
desensitisation operates on the principles of classical conditioning, aiming to de-condition the
association between the phobic stimulus and fear, by associating the phobic stimulus instead
with relaxation.

Question 58

step 1

Accepted Answer

The learning of relaxation techniques, A therapist might teach a patient a
technique they can apply to reduce
the physiological arousal and anxiety
involved in the fear response.

Question 59

includes

Accepted Answer

One technique commonly used is breathing
control, such as that outlined in breathing
retraining.

Question 60

step 2

Accepted Answer

The development of a fear hierarchy.
This involves creating a list of anxietyinducing experiences relating to the
patient’s phobia, listed in order of
easiest to confront, to the most difficult
to confront.

Question 61

step 3

Accepted Answer

The gradual step-by-step exposure.
The gradual step-by-step exposure
to each item of the fear hierarchy,
beginning with the least anxietyinducing stimulus, paired with practice
of the learnt relaxation techniques with
each new exposure.

Question 62

includes

Accepted Answer

Each exposure to a step in the fear hierarchy
is done in a controlled manner, with the use of
relaxation techniques at each step. The patient
does not move on to the next item in their fear
hierarchy until the fear response is eliminated

Question 63

step 4

Accepted Answer

The continuation of this systematic
exposure. The continuation of this
exposure to items on the fear hierarchy
until the most fear-inducing stimulus
can be faced without producing the
phobic response.

Question 64

includes

Accepted Answer

This process is often done with a therapist. At the
end of this stage, a patient can confront their most
fear-inducing stimulus without a fear response.

Psychology Chapter 9

9A, 9B

Question	Answer
Biopsychosocial approach	a holistic, interdisciplinary framework for understanding the human experience in terms of the influence of biological, psychological, and social factors
Biological factors	internal, genetic, and/or physiologically based factors, can be innate, such as genetic predispositions passed down from one’s parents, or can come about later in life, such as through taking certain medications
Psychological factors	internal factors relating to an individual’s mental processes, including their cognition, affect, thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes
Social factors	external factors relating to an individual’s interactions with others and their external environment, including their relationships and community involvement
There are two biological factors that contribute to SP	gaba dysfunction , long term potentiation
GABA (Gamma-amino butyric acid)	the main inhibitory neurotransmitter in the nervous system, regulates postsynaptic activation in neural pathways, preventing overexcitation and uncontrolled firing. important in flight fight freeze response as it slows the excitatory nueral impulse
GABA dysfunction	insufficient neural transmission or reception of GABA in the body
what is GABA dysfunction due to	low level or production of GABA, or an insufficient reception or transmission of GABA across the synapse
GABA dysfunction can contribute to the development of phobia because:	may cause someone’s flightfightfreeze or anxiety response to be activated more easily than someone with adequate GABA levels. • recurrent stress responses to specific stimuli can lead to the development of a phobia.
Long-term potentiation	the long-lasting and experience-dependent strengthening of synaptic connections that are regularly coactivated
how does This contributes to the development of phobias pt 1	strengthen the association between neural signals involved in perceiving a stimulus and neural signals involved in activating the FR.
how does This contributes to the development of phobias pt 2	Through their repeated coactivation, the signals involved in perceiving a phobic stimulus more readily trigger the activation of the neural signals of FR
what is the result	The more this occurs, the stronger the association becomes, and the stronger the phobia becomes.
psychological factors	precipitation by classical conditioning, perputaation by operat conditioing, role of cognitve biases
Classical conditioning	contribute to the development of phobias by increasing susceptibility to and contributing to their occurrence. This can be described as precipitation by classical conditioning.
Precipitating factors	factors that increase the susceptibility to and contribute to the occurrence of developing a specific phobia
classical condition in terms of contrubting to phobia	classical conditioning can precipitate specific phobia as phobias can be learned, and therefore developed, through classical conditioning.
simuli	phobis stimulus=netral stimulus repeated association with unconditioned stimuls nautually induced fear, NS becomes the CS or phobic stimulus producing the conditioned response or phobic response
Operant conditioning	operant conditioning perpetuates phobias by preventing an individual from overcoming them, The role of operant conditioning in phobias can be thought about largely in terms of the consequence stage
Perpetuating factors	factors that inhibit a person’s ability to recover from a specific phobia
consequence stage pt 1	an individual with a phobia will generally avoid contact with their phobic stimulus at all costs. • by avoiding confrontation with the phobic stimulus, a person is negatively reinforced through this avoidance
onsequence stage pt 2	over time, this reinforcement strengthens or maintains the phobic response, making avoidance behaviours more likely to be repeated and preventing recovery through this cycle.`
Cognitive bias	a predisposition to think about and process information in a certain way
what does it do	may cause errors in people’s judgements and thoughts. Cognitive biases contribute to phobias because some people consider certain stimuli as particularly harmful, dangerous or scary
Memory bias	a type of cognitive bias caused by inaccurate or exaggerated memory
Memory bias contribute	people may remember the trauma as extremely significant or harmful, and this impacts their present cognitions about related stimuli, this innacurate memeory serves to jutofy the extreme fear allowing it to persust over time in their mind
Catastrophic thinking	a type of cognitive bias in which a stimulus or event is predicted to be far worse than it actually is
Catastrophic thinking contribute	often imagine the worst-case scenario possible when imagining an interaction with their phobic stimulus. This contributes to phobia, making stimuli seem worthy of extreme fear and anxiety
social factors	• specific environmental triggers • stigma around seeking treatment.
Specific environmental triggers	stimuli or experiences in a person’s environment that evoke an extreme stress response, leading to the development of a phobia
There are a few different types of environmental triggers, including:	• direct confrontation with a traumatic stimulus or event • observing another person having a direct confrontation with a traumatic stimu.lus or event, • learning about a potentially dangerous or traumatic stimulus or event indirectly
Stigma	the feeling of shame or disgrace experienced by an individual for a characteristic that differentiates them from others
how	As phobias tend to involve some degree of irrational fear, seeking help can be very difficult,might feel as though their phobia is too embarrassing or insignificant to seek professional help, or unusual and isolated from society in some way for doing so.
stigma contributes	Leaving one’s phobia untreated also contributes to the development and maintenance of specific phobia. Often, people will not seek help due to embarrassment, worry, or fear.
Biological interventions	gaba agonists, breathing retraining
GABA agonists	lack of inhibitory neural transmission in the body leads to over-excitation at the synapses, inability to regulate neural firing can lead to feelings of anxiety. Therefore, combatting GABA dysfunction can reduce the development of specific phobi
Benzodiazepines	a type of medication that depresses central nervous system activity and is often used as a short-acting antianxiety medication , are agonists
agonists	a type of drug that imitates neurotransmitters and works to initiate a neural response (excitatory or inhibitory) when it binds to the receptor sites of a neuron
how does bezodiazepines treat gaba dysfunction	benzodiazepines bind to GABA receptor sites and mimic the effects of GABA to increase its inhibitory response.
what does this do	By inducing inhibitory responses, the rapid excitatory communication between neurons in the fear response is reduced, relieving the anxiety it causes and leading to the relaxation of muscles.
Breathing retraining	a method used to teach breathing control techniques that may reduce physiological arousal, can be used by an individual when they are experiencing anxiety in the presence of their phobic stimulus
what happens to breathing during SP	when facing their phobic stimulus, they often experience fast, shallow breathing as their sympathetic nervous system becomes dominant. This can lead to hyperventilation and the engagement of other sympathetic nervous system responses-increased anxiety
step 1 of breathing retraining	psychologist/doctor will teach how to consciously control their breathing. • slow deep inhalations thenslow controlled exhalations • counting slowly when breathing in/out • breathing slowly in through the nose breathing out slowly from the diaphragm
step 2	The learner applies the breathing techniques learnt in step 1 when in the presence of a phobic stimulus. eg by counting aloud or in their head, or imagining the therapist saying the instructions to them when in the presence of the phobic stimulus.
what does this do	restores the amount of oxygen in the body to an optimal level to help the parasympathetic nervous system become dominant, in turn decreasing the dominance of the sympathetic nervous system and reducing anxiety.
Psychological interventions	Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) Systematic desensitisation
Psychotherapeutic treatments	treatments that address dysfunctional emotions, thoughts, and behaviours through therapeutic communication
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)	a form of psychotherapy that encourages individuals to substitute dysfunctional cognitions and behaviours with more adaptive ones
The cognitive component involves:	– identifying negative thoughts and feelings (cognitions) about the issue. – replacing these negative thoughts and feelings with more positive ones.
• The behavioural component involves:	– identifying negative behaviours relating to the issue. – developing and maintaining more positive behaviours relating to the issue.
what do when treating an indivdual	a therapist first has to work with the patient to identify their cognitions and behaviours that may perpetuate and contribute . Once identified, the therapist and counsellor can then work to modify these unhealthy cognitions and behaviours
Cognitions eg	Memory bias • Catastrophic thinking • A belief that the phobia can never be overcome • A belief that the phobia can only get worse • Embarrassment • Extreme fear
behaviours eg	Avoidance behaviours in which a person avoids their phobic stimulus and anything related to it at all costs • Not seeking help • Avoiding social activities that may expose a person to their phobia
how do these behaviours and cognitions work	The presence of these cognitions and behaviours can mutually reinforce each other and perpetuate a phobia and a stress response
what happens Once the individual understands the interrelationship between dysfunctional behaviours and cognition	a therapist will work with them to develop strategies to overcome them, involves identifying both cognitions and behaviours that are healthier, which could potentially replace the dysfunctional ones. C: challenging them as hypotheses, B: healthier ones
Systematic desensitisation	a therapeutic technique used to overcome phobias that involves a patient being exposed incrementally to increasingly anxietyinducing stimuli, combined with the use of relaxation techniques
how does it work	. Systematic desensitisation operates on the principles of classical conditioning, aiming to de-condition the association between the phobic stimulus and fear, by associating the phobic stimulus instead with relaxation.
step 1	The learning of relaxation techniques, A therapist might teach a patient a technique they can apply to reduce the physiological arousal and anxiety involved in the fear response.
includes	One technique commonly used is breathing control, such as that outlined in breathing retraining.
step 2	The development of a fear hierarchy. This involves creating a list of anxietyinducing experiences relating to the patient’s phobia, listed in order of easiest to confront, to the most difficult to confront.
step 3	The gradual step-by-step exposure. The gradual step-by-step exposure to each item of the fear hierarchy, beginning with the least anxietyinducing stimulus, paired with practice of the learnt relaxation techniques with each new exposure.
includes	Each exposure to a step in the fear hierarchy is done in a controlled manner, with the use of relaxation techniques at each step. The patient does not move on to the next item in their fear hierarchy until the fear response is eliminated
step 4	The continuation of this systematic exposure. The continuation of this exposure to items on the fear hierarchy until the most fear-inducing stimulus can be faced without producing the phobic response.
includes	This process is often done with a therapist. At the end of this stage, a patient can confront their most fear-inducing stimulus without a fear response.
Social interventions	Psychoeducation
Psychoeducation	teaching families and supporters of individuals with mental health disorders how to better understand, deal with, and treat their disorder
includes	providing more general education about the nature of phobia to increase families’ and supporters’ understanding of the mental health disorder. This can be beneficial to both the person with the phobia and their family and supporters.
There are two important components of psychoeducation that are taught to families and supporters:	challenging unrealistic or anxious thoughts of the individual, and • not encouraging avoidance behaviours.
Challenging unrealistic or anxious thoughts eg form of extreme anxiety, catastrophic thinking, and memory biases.	Family and supporters are encouraged to actively challenge these thoughts to help to understand that some cognitive components of their fears are potentially unfounded and irrational. should be done in a supportive, non-judgemental fashion
Not encouraging avoidance behaviours	families and supporters are taught that they should not encourage avoidance behaviours, as they do not solve and only perpetuate the phobic anxiety.
why are avoidance techniques bad	might be useful for relieving less severe forms of stress, they do not provide long-term solutions for phobias. This is because phobias involve a deeply ingrained fear response that cannot be eliminated entirely with temporary fixes.

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