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Cited by 203Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive ProcessesChild and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentMental Health Treatment and Access

Specific phobias

Open access
Eaton, William W, Bienvenu, O Joseph, Miloyan, Beyon·2018·The Lancet Psychiatry
DOI 10.1016/s2215-0366(18)30169-xPMC PMC7233312
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Abstract

Anxiety disorders are among the most prevalent mental disorders, but the subcategory of specific phobias has not been well studied. Phobias involve both fear and avoidance. For people who have specific phobias, avoidance can reduce the constancy and severity of distress and impairment. However, these phobias are important because of their early onset and strong persistence over time. Studies indicate that the lifetime prevalence of specific phobias around the world ranges from 3% to 15%, with fears and phobias concerning heights and animals being the most common. The developmental course of phobias, which progress from fear to avoidance and then to diagnosis, suggests the possibility that interrupting the course of phobias could reduce their prevalence. Although specific phobias often begin in childhood, their incidence peaks during midlife and old age. Phobias persist for several years or even decades in 10-30% of cases, and are strongly predictive of onset of other anxiety, mood, and substance-use disorders. Their high comorbidity with other mental disorders, especially after onset of the phobia, suggests that early treatment of phobias could also alter the risk of other disorders. Exposure therapy remains the treatment of choice, although this approach might be less effective in the long term than previously believed. This Review discusses the literature regarding the prevalence, incidence, course, risk factors, and treatment of specific phobias, and presents epidemiological data from several population-based surveys.

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  • Arachnophobia is a common source of anxiety within the general population.

    “Arachnophobia is a common source of anxiety within the general population [6].”

    From Virtual reality exposure therapy for fear of spiders: an open trial and feasibility study of a new treatment for arachnophobia (2024) · cites this paper as [6]

    The Prevalence and incidence section (page not provided) says fears of animals are among the most prevalent fears in national population samples. It does not report the prevalence of fear of spiders specifically, so it supports the claim at the broader animal-fear level but does not establish that arachnophobia itself is common. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Over time, these mechanisms cause a reduction or avoidance of health care services including preventive measures.

    “Over time, these mechanisms cause a reduction or avoidance of health care services including preventive measures (9, 29, 31).”

    From Combined Fainting and Psychogenic Non-epileptic Seizures as Significant Therapy Hurdles in Blood-Injury-Injection Phobia: A Mini-Review and Case Report (2022) · cites this paper as [9]

    The Prevalence and incidence section says people with blood or injection phobia presumably avoid doctors who provide preventive measures. That supports possible avoidance of preventive care, but the source limits the point to this phobia and presents it as a presumption, not an established causal reduction in health-care use over time. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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  • BII phobia is a unique entity featuring intense fear and frequently fainting at the sight or anticipation of blood, physical injury that could lead to blood loss, or injection.

    “BII phobia is a unique entity featuring intense fear and frequently fainting at the sight or anticipation of blood, physical injury that could lead to blood loss, or injection (9, 28, 29).”

    From Combined Fainting and Psychogenic Non-epileptic Seizures as Significant Therapy Hurdles in Blood-Injury-Injection Phobia: A Mini-Review and Case Report (2022) · cites this paper as [9]

    The Diagnosis section identifies blood-, injection-, and injury-related phobias as specific-phobia subtypes and describes unreasonable fear of seeing blood or getting an injection. It does not describe BII phobia as a unique entity, say that fainting is frequent, or specify anticipation or injury that could cause blood loss. No page number is available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • A recent meta-analysis demonstrated a 41% heritability for blood-related fear and 33% for BII phobia, making it the most heritable specific phobia.

    “A recent meta-analysis demonstrated a 41% heritability for blood-related fear and 33% for BII phobia, making it the most heritable specific phobia (9, 48).”

    From Combined Fainting and Psychogenic Non-epileptic Seizures as Significant Therapy Hurdles in Blood-Injury-Injection Phobia: A Mini-Review and Case Report (2022) · cites this paper as [9]

    The Risk factors section reports a meta-analysis of ten twin studies and a mean heritability of about 30% across animal, situational, and blood-illness phobias. It does not give 41% for blood-related fear or 33% for BII phobia, or say that BII is the most heritable subtype. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • In the case of BII, studies identified a distinct pathophysiological mechanism.

    “However, in the case of phobia relating to blood, injury, and injection (BII), studies identified a distinct pathophysiological mechanism (9, 21–28)”

    From Combined Fainting and Psychogenic Non-epileptic Seizures as Significant Therapy Hurdles in Blood-Injury-Injection Phobia: A Mini-Review and Case Report (2022) · cites this paper as [9]

    The Diagnosis section identifies blood-, injection-, and injury-related phobias as a subtype, but does not describe a distinct pathophysiological mechanism. Searches for that mechanism and for fainting or cardiovascular responses found no passage in our copy that addresses the claim. (LLM, conf=0.74)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. [58]McGuire M, Troisi A. Darwinian psychiatry. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.

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Authors
Eaton, W. W., Bienvenu, O. J., & Miloyan, B.
Affiliations
  • Johns Hopkins University (US)
  • Federation University (AU)
Corresponding author
Eaton, William W
ORCID
Venue
The Lancet Psychiatry
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2018-08
Volume
5
Issue
8
Pages
678-686
ISSN
2215-0366 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/s2215-0366(18)30169-x
PMC
PMC7233312
OpenAlex
W4245095371
Cited by
203
References
100
Citations by year
2026: 21 · 2025: 33 · 2024: 37 · 2023: 34 · 2022: 31 · 2021: 27 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 5
FWCI
1.87
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • The Lancet Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
National Institute on Aging (U01AG052445)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
Keywords
specific phobia, anxiety disorders, prevalence, incidence, developmental course, risk factors, comorbidities, exposure therapy, childhood onset
MeSH terms
Age Factors, Avoidance Learning, Humans, Phobic Disorders, Sex Factors, Global Health, Comorbidity, Prevalence, Age of Onset, Substance-Related Disorders

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