Share This Link

This reflects a specific phobia, not agoraphobia. Fear of snakes is situational and does not involve avoidance of public or escape-compromised environments.

Refusing to fly may indicate aviophobia, a specific phobia of flying. It lacks the broader avoidance pattern seen in agoraphobia and does not meet the DSM-5 criteria.

Avoiding public eating may suggest social anxiety disorder, where fear centers on embarrassment or judgment, not escape difficulty or panic in open spaces.

Acrophobia involves fear of heights, not enclosed spaces. Elevators may be involved, but the trigger here is confinement, not elevation.

Agoraphobia centers on fear of open or public spaces where escape may be difficult. Elevators are enclosed, not open, and the fear here is spatial confinement.

Social anxiety disorder involves fear of judgment or embarrassment in social settings. The elevator scenario lacks social evaluation, making this diagnosis inappropriate.

Tachycardia and hypertension reflect a sympathetic response typical of most phobias, but not blood-injection-injury types like hematophobia.

Diarrhea and abdominal cramps are gastrointestinal symptoms more common in anxiety-related disorders, not specific to hematophobia’s vasovagal profile.

Hyperventilation and respiratory alkalosis are respiratory manifestations seen in panic disorder or generalized anxiety, not in vasovagal reactions.

Observational learning involves acquiring behavior by watching others, not through direct pairing of stimuli and responses. It does not explain fear from personal traumatic experience.

Information transmission refers to acquiring fear through verbal or written communication, such as being told something is dangerous. It lacks the direct experiential pairing seen in classical conditioning.

Cognitive restructuring is a therapeutic technique used to challenge and modify irrational beliefs. It is not a theory of how phobias develop but rather a method for treating them.

Relaxation exercises are part of systematic desensitization, not implosion therapy. Implosion does not use calming techniques during exposure.

Graded intensities reflect gradual exposure used in systematic desensitization. Implosion therapy bypasses gradual steps and starts with high-intensity stimuli.

Stopping therapy upon anxiety contradicts the non-escape principle of implosion therapy. Continued exposure is essential for extinction to occur.