SPECIFIC PHOBIA : CAUSES AND

PERSPECTIVES.
PRESENTED BY
SUSMITHA R
SPECIFIC PHOBIA

 Strong or persistent fear triggered by specific object

Or situation.
 Anticipatory, photographs or television images.
 Occasionally may not have insight.
CAUSES

 Familial pattern (e.s.p. Blood – injury phobia).

 Learned behavior – Wolpe & Rachman (conditioning).
 Unexpected panic attacks in to- be – feared situation.
 Informational transmission.
 Psychoanalytic view point (repressed id impulses).
 Vicarious conditioning (Observing others Undergoing
Trauma Or demonstrating fearfulness).
SUBTYPES

1. Animal Type
2. Natural Environment Type
3. Blood-Injection-Injury Type
4. Situational Type
5. Other Type
The frequency of the subtypes in adult clinical
settings, from most to least frequent :
Situational; Natural Environment; Blood-
Injection-Injury; and Animal
And
Closed- in situation : Common in elderly
 In community :
Most common : Heights and Spiders, Mice, and
insects.
Least common : Other animals and natural
environment
COMORBIDITY

 Mood disorders
 Substance – related disorders
 Personality disorders
 Somatic problems
PREVALENCE

Rates of co-occurance with other disorders:

50% - 80%
12% - 30% - only seek professional help.
Female : Male – 2 : 1
7 % - 9% Diagnosed
7- 11 Mean age
CULTURE, AGE AND GENDER DIFFERENCES

 Common in lower sociology – economic strata

 Fear of magic or spirits
 Children’s expression: Crying, Tantrums, Freezing, Or
Clinging.
 75 % - 90% individuals with Animals, natural and
situational type are female.
 55% - 70% Blood injury type are female.
DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS
 Panic disorder with Agorophobia.
 Social Phobia
 Post- traumatic stress disorder
 Obsessive compulsive disorder
 Seperation – anxiety disorder
DSM- IV - TR CRITERIA
A. 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).
B. Exposure to the phobic stimulus almost invariably
provokes an immediate anxiety response, which may take
the form of a situationally bound or situationally
predisposed Panic Attack. Note: In children, the anxiety
may be expressed by crying, tantrums, freezing, or
clinging.
C. The person recognizes that the fear is excessive or
unreasonable. Note: In children, this feature may be
absent.
D. The phobic situation(s) is avoided or else is endured
with intense anxiety or distress.
E. The avoidance, anxious anticipation, or distress in the
feared situation(s) interferes significantly with the
person's normal routine, occupational (or academic)
functioning, or social activities or relationships, or there
is marked distress about having the phobia.
F. In individuals under age 18 years, the duration is at
least 6 months .
G. The anxiety, Panic Attacks, or phobic avoidance
associated with the specific object or situation are not
better accounted for by another mental d isorder, such as
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorde r (e.g., fear of dirt in
someone with an obsession about contaminati on),
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (e.g., avoidance of stimuli
associated with a severe stressor), Separation Anxiety
Disorder (e.g., avoidance of school), Social Phobia (e.g.,
avoidance of social situations because of fear of
embarrassment), Panic Disorder With Agoraphobia, or
Agoraphobia Without History of Panic Disorder.
TREATMENT

CBT – ( systematic desensitization).

Psychodynamic psychotherapy.
Group therapy
Medications (Benzodiazepine, beta blockers)
PROGNOSIS

 If exists in adolescence – greater chances in

adulthood.
 Better prognosis whose fear diminishes rapidly.
 If remained untreated lasts for years.
 Specific phobia doesn’t get worse it gradually
diminishes as individual ages.