Specific Phobia
Specific Phobia refers to an experience of marked and persistent fear that is excessive or unreasonable, cued by the presence or anticipation of a specific object or situation (e.g. flying, heights, animals, receiving an injection, seeing blood).
When confronted with the object of their fear, sufferers experience an immediate anxiety response, which may take the form of a panic attack. In children the anxiety may express itself in tantrums, crying, freezing, or clinging. The person recognises that the fear is excessive or unreasonable. However, this feature may be absent in children.
The phobic situation(s) is avoided or else endured with intense anxiety or distress. The avoidance, anxious anticipation, or distress in the feared situation(s) interferes significantly with the persons normal routine, occupational (or academic) functioning, or social activities or relationships, or is marked distress about having the phobia.
The anxiety, panic attacks or phobic avoidance associated with the specific object or situation are not better accounted for by another disorder such as:
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
(E.g. fear of dirt by someone with an obsession about contamination) - Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
(E.g. avoidance of a stimuli associated with a traumatic event) - Separation anxiety
(E.g. avoidance of school) - Social Phobia
(E.g. avoidance of social situations because of fear of embarrassment or social humiliation)Specific Phobias are classified in the following subtypes that indicate the focus of the fear of avoidance:
- Animal type
This subtype refers to fears of animals or insects and usually has a childhood onset - Natural Environment Type
This involves fears of objects or situations in the natural environment such as storms, heights, or water. This subtype also generally has a childhood onset - Blood Injection Injury Type
This subtype refers to fears or seeing blood or injury, or receiving an injection or other invasive medical procedure. This subtype tends to have a strong familial relationship and sufferers can be prone to fainting on exposure to these types of situations - Situational Type
This Specific Phobia subtype refers to fears cued by specific situations such as flying, using public toilets, transport, enclosed spaces, elevators, driving, etc. This subtype can have its onset in childhood or in early adulthood.
Situational Specific Phobias are most common with many suffers experiencing more than one subtype of Specific Phobia. Although phobias are prevalent in the general population (with lifetime rates in community samples varying from 10% to 11.3%), they rarely become the object of clinical attention and are not classified as Specific Phobias in cases where people who experience them are not significantly distressed and their lives are not disrupted by them. Specific Phobia can lead to restricted lifestyle or interference with certain occupations. For example, a dog phobic may avoid going for walks in his neighbourhood, or an executive may miss out on promotional opportunities because of avoidance of flying.
Specific Phobias can often occur with other anxiety disorders. However, the Specific Phobia in these instances is less likely to be the focus of clinical attention as generally their impact is less persuasive than that of other Anxiety Disorders.
