Editor's note

It is pleasant to note that in this short chapter the most common psychiatric disorder, specific phobia, can be effectively treated, often with as little as one session of exposure therapy, so effectively giving the lie to the common belief that, once affected with mental illness, recovery is rare. Because the evidence for this simple behavioural intervention is so strong, other treatments almost become redundant, with only blood phobias being treated successfully in a novel way, although at present the evidence base is a little limited. Agoraphobia without panic is an interesting condition that is somewhat similar to avoidant personality disorder; the absence of panic allows coping strategies to be developed that allow adjustment to the phobic symptoms and preclude the need to seek help, although as the authors note, this is often at the expense of significant impairment in relationships. It is also worth noting that these conditions have no evidence base for drug treatment and thereby occupy an almost unique position in this book, and the absence of competing claims from other forms of management make the recommendations in the evidence table below absolutely unequivocal.

Introduction

Specific phobia (formerly known as simple phobia) and agoraphobia are prevalent and disabling psychiatric disorders. Individuals with specific phobia have a persistent, excessive, and unreasonable fear of a particular object or situation. The feared stimulus is often something that commonly evokes some fear or disgust, for example, small, enclosed places, open wounds or tarantulas.