Specific Phobia
Specific phobia is defined as the occurrence of intense and abnormal fear when exposed to a specific object, person or situation. To be diagnosed with specific phobia, the fear must cause last over 6 months and cause severe and debilitating anxiety or distress. There are five categories that all specific phobias fall into: animals (such as sharks), situations (such as planes), blood, injections and injury (such as getting a needle), natural environment (such as storms) and other phobias (such as clowns) (Grivas & Letch, 2013). Specific phobias disrupt normal everyday functioning and can impair the way people work and socialise. Unreasonable thoughts and beliefs occur which cause the person with the phobia to avoid or, if that is impossible, endure the situation with extreme distress (Perelman School of Medicine, n.d.). Most specific phobias develop at an early age, though they can develop at any time, and while some phobias develop because of a single traumatic experience, many sufferers …show more content…
People may also feel anticipatory anxiety, which is feeling nervous just by thinking of being in a certain situation or coming into contact with the phobic object (WebMD, 2015). With the exception of children, people with specific phobias know their fear is too intense and irrational for the situation they are in, and often feel embarrassed about it.
The following criteria from the DSM-V describe what must occur for a diagnosis of specific phobia to be made.
1. The patient must have had a persistent fear of a specific situation, person or object for over six months
2. The phobic stimulus nearly always elicits immediate fear
3. The patient actively avoids the phobic stimulus
4. The fear is excessive and out of proportion to the actual threat
5. The fear or avoidance severely impairs everyday
Specific phobia is defined as the occurrence of intense and abnormal fear when exposed to a specific object, person or situation. To be diagnosed with specific phobia, the fear must cause last over 6 months and cause severe and debilitating anxiety or distress. There are five categories that all specific phobias fall into: animals (such as sharks), situations (such as planes), blood, injections and injury (such as getting a needle), natural environment (such as storms) and other phobias (such as clowns) (Grivas & Letch, 2013). Specific phobias disrupt normal everyday functioning and can impair the way people work and socialise. Unreasonable thoughts and beliefs occur which cause the person with the phobia to avoid or, if that is impossible, endure the situation with extreme distress (Perelman School of Medicine, n.d.). Most specific phobias develop at an early age, though they can develop at any time, and while some phobias develop because of a single traumatic experience, many sufferers …show more content…
People may also feel anticipatory anxiety, which is feeling nervous just by thinking of being in a certain situation or coming into contact with the phobic object (WebMD, 2015). With the exception of children, people with specific phobias know their fear is too intense and irrational for the situation they are in, and often feel embarrassed about it.
The following criteria from the DSM-V describe what must occur for a diagnosis of specific phobia to be made.
1. The patient must have had a persistent fear of a specific situation, person or object for over six months
2. The phobic stimulus nearly always elicits immediate fear
3. The patient actively avoids the phobic stimulus
4. The fear is excessive and out of proportion to the actual threat
5. The fear or avoidance severely impairs everyday