Specific Phobia

It is defined as excessive fear or anxiety related to a specific object or situation. The most frequently seen fears are those related to animals (cats, dogs, snakes, bees, etc.), natural environment, blood-injection-injury, flying in an airplane, elevators, and heights. Children may have normal age-appropriate fears during their developmental process, such as darkness, thunder, ghosts, strangers, etc. Developmental fears receive a specific phobia diagnosis only when they are severe. In specific phobia, the object or situation always triggers fear. Sometimes factors that remind the person of the feared object can also cause fear or anxiety to emerge. They display intense avoidance behaviors to prevent encountering the object. Over time, this avoidance also begins to impair the child’s or adolescent’s functioning.

When encountering the feared object, in addition to behavioral symptoms such as freezing, screaming, running away, irritability, and helplessness, physical symptoms such as palpitations, trembling, shivering, sweating, abdominal pain, headache, and dizziness can also be observed.

The most commonly used treatment methods are cognitive behavioral therapies and medication treatments. In younger age groups, only behavioral therapies are effective. In therapies, the feared situation or object is usually gradually confronted, and avoidance behaviors are attempted to be extinguished. In mild to moderate specific phobia, the application of therapies alone is sufficient. In severe cases, it may be necessary to use medication treatments simultaneously with therapy.