The behavioural, emotional and cognitive characteristics of phobias, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) - Psychopathology

Phobias: Phobias are anxiety disorders that are characterised by uncontrollable, extreme, irrational and enduring fears that involve anxiety levels that are out of proportion to any actual risk.

It is estimated that about 10% of people will suffer from phobias at one point in their life.

The DSM-5 recognises the following categories of phobias:

1.     Specific phobias (phobias of an object (eg. an animal) or a situation (eg. flying))

2.     Social phobias (phobias of social situations, eg. public speaking)

3.     Agoraphobia (phobia of being outside or in a public space)

Behavioural Characteristics of Phobias (how you act):

Avoidance: When presented with an object/situation we fear, we will go out of our way to make sure we avoid coming into contact with it. For example, someone with arachnophobia will avoid being near spiders, and people with a social phobia will avoid being in large crowds.

Panic: However, we are not always able to completely avoid our phobic stimulus and so, when we come face-to-face with our phobia it often involves extreme levels of panic and anxiety – resulting in crying, screaming or running away.  

Emotional Characteristics of Phobias (how you feel):

Anxiety: When we are presented with (or anticipate) our phobic stimulus we will often immediately experience intense feelings of panic and anxiety (an unpleasant state of high arousal). This prevents us from relaxing and makes it difficult to experience any positive emotions - and it can often make us so panicked to the extent where we will experience panic attacks.

Cognitive Characteristics of Phobias (how you think/process information):

Even if the sufferer realises that their fear is irrational, they are unable to control their obsessive thoughts. For example, a person with arachnophobia may be perfectly aware that no spiders in the UK are actually ‘deadly’ or dangerous, yet they will still believe that if they come into contact with one it can be unsafe and harmful.

Additionally, if a person is presented with their phobia, they will find it difficult to direct their attention elsewhere: they will become fixated on the object they fear, due to the alleged ‘danger’ of that object.

They may also have their perceptions become distorted – causing them to see something (their phobia) a lot worse than it actually is.

 Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD):

OCD is an anxiety-related condition, characterised by either obsessions (recurring and persistent thoughts, images ect) and/or compulsions (repetitive behaviours eg. hand-washing).

Obsessive thoughts are beliefs that cause the sufferer feelings of anxiety (eg. believing that bacteria and germs ae going to contaminate you). Compulsions are physical urges to perform actions in order to reduce the feelings of anxiety caused by the obsessive thoughts (eg. consistent hand-washing.)

Behavioural Characteristics of OCD (how you act):

Compulsions: the sufferer typically feels compelled to repeat behaviour, for example: hand washing. These are commonly performed in order to manage or reduce the anxiety caused by the patient’s obsessive thoughts. For example, repetitively washing your hands is caused by an excessive fear of germs and bacteria.

Emotional Characteristics of OCD (how you feel):

Anxiety and distress: obsessive thoughts are unpleasant and frightening for sufferers and can cause the patient to feel overwhelmed, anxious and distressed.

Depression: OCD is often accompanied by depression/low mood/loss of pleasure for activities. This is because every-day activities are interrupted by obsessive thoughts and repetitive compulsions, which makes it difficult for the sufferers to actually enjoy themselves.

Cognitive Characteristics of OCD (how you think/process information):

Obsessive thoughts: 90% of OCD patients suffer from reoccurring and uncontrollable thoughts which cause anxiety. For example: fear of contamination.

Sufferers are aware their thoughts are irrational (if they thought their obsessive thoughts were based on reality, they may be suffering a different mental disorder (eg. schizophrenia)).

Many sufferers also experience hypervigilance: an intentional bias that means their unconscious mind is constantly ‘on the lookout’.

Depression:

Depression is a mental disorder characterised by low mood and low energy levels. Depressive disorders are the most common of all the psychopathological disorders and it Britain, it is estimated that 1 in 20 adults will suffer from a depressive illness at any one time.

Behavioural characteristics of Depression:
Typically suffers of depression have reduced energy levels (making them lethargic), which has a knock-on effect – causing sufferers to not attend work, education or have a social life. In extreme cases, sufferers cannot get out of bed.
The can also undergo psychomotor changes – such as moving or talking slower.
Suffers may experience insomnia or hypersomnia (increased need for sleep) – similarly, their appetite may increase or decrease.
Suffers can also become verbally or physically aggressive – and it may lead to self-harm.

Emotional characteristics of Depression:
Patients often have a lowered-mood, with them describing themselves as ‘worthless’ or ‘empty’, and have a lack of interest/pleasure in activities (including ones they used to enjoy). Sufferers also tend to report reduced self-esteem – which can become quite extreme, with some suffers describing a sense of self-loathing.

Cognitive characteristics of Depression:
Poor concentration is often a problem they experience, with sufferers reporting they find it difficult to stick to a task or finding it difficult to make decisions and remember things.
They also tend to dwell on the negative, as they seem to pay more attention to the negative aspects of a situation (pessimistic) and have a bias towards recalling unhappy, rather than happy, memories.
They may also experience death/suicidal thoughts.