- Last edited on April 30, 2020
Specific Phobia
Primer
Specific Phobia is a disorder characterized by intense fear or anxiety in the presence of a particular situation or object (phobic stimulus), including animals, environments, medical procedures, or situations. Many individuals fear objects or situations from more than one category, or phobic stimulus.
Epidemiology
Specific phobia is an extremely common mental disorder with a lifetime prevalence of 14%. It is common for individuals to have multiple specific phobias. The average individual with specific phobia fears three objects or situations, and approximately 75% of individuals with specific phobia fear more than one situation or object.
Culture
The individual's sociocultural context should also be taken into account. For example, fears of the dark may be reasonable in a context of ongoing violence, and fear of insects may be more disproportionate in settings where insects are consumed in the diet.
Diagnostic Criteria
Criterion A
Marked fear or anxiety about a specific object or situation (e.g. - flying, heights, animals, receiving an injection, seeing blood).
Criterion B
The phobic object or situation almost always provokes immediate fear or anxiety.
Criterion C
The phobic object or situation is actively avoided or endured with intense fear or anxiety.
Criterion D
The fear or anxiety is out of proportion to the actual danger posed by the specific object. or situation and to the sociocultural context.
Criterion E
The fear, anxiety, or avoidance is persistent, typically lasting for 6 months or more.
Criterion F
The fear, anxiety, or avoidance causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
Criterion G
The disturbance is not better explained by the symptoms of another mental disorder, including:
- Fear, anxiety, and avoidance of situations associated with panic-like symptoms or other incapacitating symptoms (agoraphobia)
- Objects or situations related to obsessions (obsessive-compulsive disorder)
- Reminders of traumatic events (posttraumatic stress disorder)
- Separation from home or attachment figures (separation anxiety disorder)
- Social situations (social anxiety disorder)
Specifiers
Specifiers
Specify based on the phobia:
- Animal (e.g., spiders, insects, dogs).
- Natural environment (e.g., heights, storms, water).
- Blood-injection-injury (e.g., needles, invasive medical procedures).
- Situational (e.g., airplanes, elevators, enclosed places).
- Other (e.g., situations that may lead to choking or vomiting: in children, e.g., loud sounds or costumed characters).
Treatment
Psychotherapy
CBT is the first line treatment.