Specific Phobias

What is the diagnostic criteria?

• fear of a specific object or situation

• fear occurs immediately when exposed

• person avoids the object/situation or endures it with intense anxiety

• fear is out of proportion to the actual danger

• last 6+ months

• causes distress or impairment in daily life

• important note: the majority of people with specific phobias fear multiple objects/situations BUT still a single diagnosis is assigned regardless of the number of feared stimuli

• fear must be excessive for diagnosis + avoidance

Types of phobias: animals

• arachnophobia = spiders

• cynophobia = dogs

• elurophobia = cats

• entomophobia = insects

Types of phobias: natural environment

• achluophobia/nyctophobia = darkness

• aquaphobia = water

• tanitrophobia = thunder

• acrophobia = heights

Types of phobias: situational

• pteromerhanophobia/areophobia = flying

• gephyrophobia = bridges

• vehophobia = driving

Types of phobias: blood-injection-injury

• homophobia = blood

Types of phobias: other

• emetophobia = vomiting

Explain the onset

Most common during early childhood (up to 10 years of age) - especially for animal and natural phenomena phobias, but phobia can occur at any age.

Other info:

• high cooccurrence with other disorders

• especially other anxiety disorders depression

• persistent, spontaneous remission is rare

• quite common (12-15% lifetime prevalence)

• more common in women than in men