Chapter 2 evidencebased assessment and treatment of specific phobias in adults heather k. Specific phobias are among the most common and the most treatable of all anxiety disorders. Most individuals who seek treatment for phobias and other anxiety disorders see significant improvement and enjoy a better quality. Sometimes your doctor may also recommend other therapies or medication. The goal of the present study was to further examine and investigate the psychometric properties of the spovi in a large student sample n 1626, specifically focusing on its factor structure, measurement invariance. Oct 08, 2020 a specific phobia is a type of anxiety disorder defined as an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something. Nevertheless, individuals with specific phobias are among the least likely to seek treatment for their anxiety disorder. For information about agoraphobia and social phobia, visit what is a specific phobia. Subscribe to our free newsletters to receive latest health news and alerts to your email inbox. Michael was a 23yearold finalyear student nurse who lived at home with his parents. The workbook informs the client of alternative treatments. For example, fear of blood or needles, fear of enclosed places, and fear of flying are common specific phobias, with fear of spiders, fear of.
Oct 19, 2016 specific phobias are among the most common anxiety disorders, and not all phobias need treatment. Apr 02, 2021 simple phobias derive from an intense fear related to a specific object, activity, or situation, which then initiates anxiety. Psychometric investigation of the specific phobia of vomiting. Although adults with phobias may realize that these fears are irrational, even thinking about facing the feared object or situation brings on severe anxiety symptoms. Psychological approaches in the treatment of specific phobias. Diagnostic criteria impact of pediatric phobias cbt conceptualization treatment of pediatric phobias explained through fear of. Outline the presenter treatment of pediatric phobias. Individuals with a specific phobia tend to avoid direct exposure to their feared stimulus, and may. Unlike generalized anxiety disorder gad, specific phobias come in a variety of forms. Since the advent of behavioral therapy, specific phobia has been considered one of the success stories in the field of psychiatric treatment. Specific phobias are an overwhelming and unreasonable fear of objects or situations that pose little real danger but provoke anxiety and avoidance.
Webmd explains various kinds of phobias, including their causes, symptoms, and treatment. If a person has a phobia, their fear or anxiety is beyond the usual reaction to an object or situation. In children and adolescents specific phobia is one of the most common psychological disorders, affecting 5 to10% of youth in community samples and 15% in mental health settings kessler et al. Phobic fears include animals, insects, heights, water, enclosed places, driving, flying, and choking or vomiting. These irrational fears can interfere with personal relationships, work, and school, and prevent you from enjoying life. People with a specific phobia have an excessive and unreasonable fear in the presence of or in. Specific phobia case studies mental health articles.
Pdf treatment of specific phobia in older adults nancy. The paper will also answer the 4 questions asked in this weeks written assignment. The role of disgust in treating specific phobias in children is discussed. Specific phobias patient treatment manual this manual is both a guide to treatment and a workbook for persons who suffer from anxiety and panic disorder. Usually, the fear is proportionally greater than the actual danger or threat. It is recommended that specific phobias be treated with exposure therapy. He developed a terrifying fear of catching hiv and dying of aids.
Pdf virtual reality therapy as treatment for specific. An irrational and unabating fear of a particular object, activity, or situation that provokes an immediate anxiety response, disrupts functioning, and results in avoidance behavior. The best treatment for specific phobias is a form of psychotherapy called exposure therapy. We also discuss research on risk factors including genetic epidemiology and treatment modalities for specific phobias. However, the authors alsonote thatother modalitiesof exposureandcognitive restructuringmay alsobeuseful in treating certain subtypes of specific phobia. Cognitive behavioral therapy in a onesession treatment for a. Emdr and specific phobias 71 on behavioral treatment of a fear of swallowing that lasted 33 sessions. In particular, many patients with a bii phobia distinctively experience an increased susceptibility to fainting when exposed to feared medicalrelated stimuli due to a diphasic physiological response. The average age of onset for specific phobia is 9 to 10 years. Journal of college student psychotherapy the successful.
Behavioural and cognitive behavioural procedures have the strongest empirical support for the treatment of specific phobia in children, adolescents and adults. Pdf whether its dogs, spiders, blood, heights or some other fear, specific phobias are one of the most prevalent mental health problems. Phobias can make it hard for you to go to places you would like to go or do things you would like to do. Acute and longterm efficacy studies of in vivo exposure, virtual reality, cognitive therapy and other treatments from 1960 to 2005 were retrieved from computer search engines. Overall, the above findings suggest that the onesession treatment is portable and effective in treating a variety of specific phobias in children and adolescents. To browse pdf files, you need adobe acrobat reader. Even though millions of people live with them, phobias remain a misunderstood disorder.
Randomized, controlled clinical trials indicate that specific simple phobias also respond to. Ost combines exposure, participant modeling, cognitive challenges, and reinforcement in a. Traditionally cognitive behavioural therapy cbt for phobias involve 8 s to 12sessions of 1 hour exposure therapy, scheduled on a once weekly basis. Fear is a common emotion that nearly everyone experiences from time to time.
Traditionally, psychologists have believed that phobias are the result of experiencing a traumatic event in the presence of a specific situation or object conditioning. The diagnosis is made according to the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders dsm criteria and treatment is focused on resolving fear through exposure therapy and other forms of psychotherapy. The term phobia refers to a group of anxiety symptoms brought on by certain objects or situations. This fear causes physical symptoms of anxiety, which can be quite uncomfortable, ranging from hyperventilation, sweating, choking sensation, tachycardia, chest paintightness, and shakiness. Recognizing specific phobia compares the dsm5 and icd10 criteria for specific phobia and the specific phobia checklist is an assessment tool for clinicians. Manual for the statetrait anxiety inventory for children. Fears, anxieties and cognitive behavioral treatment of. Onesession treatment ost is a form of massed exposure therapy for the treatment of specific phobias. During treatment, it is a workbook in which individuals can record their own experience of their disorder, together with the. The treatment of bloodinjectioninjury bii phobia has a unique treatment component as compared with other types of specific phobias. However, unlike other phobias, this increase can be followed by a quick drop in blood pressure, which causes dizziness andor nausea. It lets you view and print pdf files on a variety of hardware and pdf means portable document format. This article focuses on emdr as a treatment for speci. A specific phobia is an unreasonable fear of certain objects or situations so excessive that it disrupts a persons life or causes great distress.
In this instance, you may decide to get professional help and advice to find out about treatment options. Specific phobia is an anxiety disorder that is defined as an unreasonable or irrational fear which has a significant negative impact on daily living apa, 2000. People with a specific phobias have an excessive and unreasonable fear in the presence of or anticipation of a specific object, place, or situation. Because specific phobias are rarely the focus of clinical attention, there is a. In addition, specific phobia is highly comorbid with other mental disorders, particularly anxiety disorders magee et al. Specific phobia sp like anxiety, fear is a normal human emotion. Although specific phobia is a chronic illness and animal extinction studies suggest that relapse is a common phenomenon, little is known about long. Description of a treatment manual for in virtuo exposure with.
A specific phobia is an intense and irrational fear of a specified object or situation. Intensive cognitivebehavioural treatment for specific phobia. A phobia is a type of anxiety disorder defined by a persistent and excessive fear of an object or. Advertisement im scared to death of flying, and i never do it anymore. Intensive treatment of specific phobias in children and adolescents. As with all treatment approaches, the myfp program, although empirically supported, may not be appropriate for all clients.
What are the treatment approaches for specific phobia. As the name suggests, a person with a specific phobia experiences intense fear in response to an object or situation. Treatment is also important for conditions such as depression and alcohol or drug dependence that often accompany anxiety. Specific phobia is one of the most common anxiety disorders recognized worldwide and is characterized by fear and anxiety when being in a contact with a particular object or setting. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 4th ed. The recommended empirically supported treatment for phobias is cbt 10, and for specific phobia the key therapeutic technique is exposure. Augmenting onesession treatment of childrens specific. For treatment of specific phobias, exposurebased therapy is the first choice followed by cognitive therapy. Get an overview of what a phobia is, including the different types, the symptoms they may cause, and how they can be effectively treated. Exposurebased treatments in particular are highlighted given their demonstrated effectiveness for this condition. For this paper, i will discuss a study on an anxietyrelated disorder that describes and evaluates 2 specific treatment options. Intensive cognitivebehavioural treatment for specific. Pdf treatment of specific phobia in adults joshua lipsitz. The cause of the various phobia disorders is still under considerable dispute.
Introduction to specific phobias and their treatment. This strong fear makes a person want to avoid the objects, animals or situations that provoke responses typical for specific phobias. Discriminate between the disorders phobia is a fear of a specific object ptsd numbing fear after experiencing a specific trauma panic anxiety that occurs suddenly agoraphobia fear of a panic attack in a public place gad pervasive anxiety that is nonspecific, experiential an chronic 5. A person with a phobia is aware of their fear, but cannot control it. A specific phobia is an intense, persistent, irrational fear of a specific object, situation, or activity, or person. Specific phobias diagnosis and treatment mayo clinic. Gradual desensitization is the most commonly used treatment.
Typical phobias include driving, flying, blood, needles, and spiders. But if a specific phobia affects your daily life, several therapies are available that can help you work through and overcome your fears often permanently. Specific phobia, onesession treatment, child anxiety, parenting. Antony specific phobias are among the most common psychological problems kessler et al. Phobias are often both excessive and uncontrollable. Up to 90% of individuals with phobias of animals or injections are much improved or cured following one session of exposure therapy.
Specific phobia is characterized by marked fear or anxiety regarding a particular object or situation. The format and characteristics of exposurebased treatment and predictors of treatment. Specific phobia substantial anxiety caused by exposure to a particular feared object or situation. Specific phobias center for the treatment and study of. For people who have specific phobias, avoidance can reduce the constancy and severity of distress and impairment. Findings regarding reductions in phobic avoidance and severity are in line with past treatment research among younger samples, which have consistently reported strong. The diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fourth edition text revision. Get the facts and learn how to cope with your persistent fears. Steven gans, md is boardcertified in psychiatry and is an active supervisor, teacher, and m. Several limitations of the study included a small sample size and self referral into the experiment as extra credit for a class. To revisit this article, visit my profile, then view saved stories.
Specific phobias symptoms center for the treatment and. Specific phobia can lead to avoidance of the object or situation, persistence of the fear, and significant distress or problems functioning associated with the fear. Firstly, the practical application and conceptualization of the treatment of. Psychometric investigation of the specific phobia of. Although a fear of fainting is common in all phobias, bloodinjectioninjury phobia is the only phobia where fainting can actually occur. The current research is, however, the fi rst study to demonstrate effi cacy of established treatment protocols for midage and older adults with diagnosed specifi c phobias.
Specific phobia common mental illness definitions and. Specific phobias are among the most common psychological problems both in men and women. Pdf specific phobias are among the most common psychological problems both in men and women. Specific phobia is an intense, irrational fear of something that poses little or no actual danger. Block, md, is an awardwinning, boardcertified psychiatrist who operates a private practice. Pdf treatment options for the specific phobias researchgate. Specific phobia is an anxiety disorder characterized by clinically significant fear of a particular object or situation that typically leads to avoidance behavior. With lifetime prevalence rates of over 10% kessler, berglund. In the dictionary of behavioural interventions, marshall 11 defines exposure as every procedure that confronts the individual to a stimulus generating an undesired behaviour or emotional response. Specific phobia is a diagnosable mental health concern which is characterized by extreme fear of a particular object or situation. Pdf intensive onesession treatment of specific phobias. Thus, there is a great need for further research on most types of speci. Sometimes these fears are rooted in actual experiences, but that isnt always the case. The specific phobia of vomiting inventory spovi was recently developed and shows promise as a useful measure of emetophobia.
Posttreatment, 6month, and 12month followup assessment results demonstrated maintenance of treatment gains. This anxiety disorder affects about 19 million adults and women are two times more likely than men to have a specific phobia. In vivo exposure in which the person with the specific phobia is gradually exposed to the phobic object or situation. Anxiety disorders are among the most prevalent mental disorders, but the subcategory of specific phobias has not been well studied. Understanding the cause of a phobia is actually less important than focusing on how to treat the avoidance behavior that has developed over time. Shapiro, 2001 with treatment for unprocessed events and related conditions, emdr has also been claimed to be an effective treatment for speci. Specific phobia is an anxiety disorder, characterized by an unreasonable fear associated with a specific object or situation. Specific phobias anxiety and depression association of america. Specific phobia is one of the most common and easily treated mental disorders. Treatment effects were maintained at a 6month followup. However, these phobias are important because of their early onset and strong persistence over time. For information about agoraphobia and social phobia go to what is a specific phobia. Most commonly, its defined as an overwhelming and often debilitating fear of something.
This is because people with specific phobias will do whatever they can to avoid the uncomfortable and often terrifying feelings that occur when faced with their phobia. People with specific phobias are highly distressed about having the fear, and often will go to great lengths to avoid the object or situation in question. Understanding the cause of a phobia is actually less important than focusing on how to treat the. Specific phobias the anxiety disorders association of america adaa is a national 501c3 nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote the prevention, treatment, and cure of anxiety disorders and to improve the lives of all people who suffer from them. Some patients suffer multiple specific phobias simultaneously. General principles of treatment for specific phobias. Specific phobias involve persistent and irrational fears of a specific situation or object that is out of proportion to the actual risk. Most phobias are curable, but no single treatment is guaranteed to work for all phobias. Get the facts about specific phobias in this article from discovery health. However, it may not always be possible to avoid certain phobias, such as a fear of flying.
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