The cross-national epidemiology of specific phobia in the World Mental Health Surveys

“…with lifetime and 12-month prevalence estimates in representative population surveys ranging from 7.7 to 12.5% and from 2.0 to 8.8%, respectively (Kessler et al. 1994, 2005; Bijl et al. 1998; Alonso et al. 2004; Wells et al. 2006; Stinson et al. 2007; Grenier et al. 2011; de Graaf et al. 2012).”

“…with lifetime and 12-month prevalence estimates in representative population surveys ranging from 7.7 to 12.5% and from 2.0 to 8.8%, respectively (Kessler et al. 1994, 2005; Bijl et al. 1998; Alonso et al. 2004; Wells et al. 2006; Stinson et al. 2007; Grenier et al. 2011; de Graaf et al. 2012).”

“The lifetime and 12-month prevalence and age of onset (AOO) of specific phobia as defined in the DSM-IV were evaluated with the WHO Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI, Kessler & Üstün, 2004).”

“…of care and financial resources (Saxena et al. 2007; McBain et al. 2012), the perceived need for treatment (Andrade et al. 2014), knowledge Specific phobia in the World Mental Health surveys 1755 about mental healthcare (Palazzo et al. 2014) and prejudices (Clement et al. 2015; Semrau et al. 2015).”

“Interestingly, these retrospective studies showed that in the majority of co-morbid cases, the onset of specific phobia precedes the other disorder(s) (Kessler et al. 1996, 1997; Magee et al. 1996).”

“Treatment for specific phobia was threefold higher in high-income countries than in low-/lower-middleincome countries, which could be due to differences in the availability of care and financial resources (Saxena et al. 2007; McBain et al. 2012), the perceived need for treatment (Andrade et al.”

“…due to differences in the availability of care and financial resources (Saxena et al. 2007; McBain et al. 2012), the perceived need for treatment (Andrade et al. 2014), knowledge Specific phobia in the World Mental Health surveys 1755 about mental healthcare (Palazzo et al. 2014) and prejudices…”

“Also, there could be differences in how interview questions are interpreted, social norms, attitudes and stigmas surrounding mental problems (Angermeyer & Dietrich, 2006; Lee et al. 2009).”

“…with lifetime and 12-month prevalence estimates in representative population surveys ranging from 7.7 to 12.5% and from 2.0 to 8.8%, respectively (Kessler et al. 1994, 2005; Bijl et al. 1998; Alonso et al. 2004; Wells et al. 2006; Stinson et al. 2007; Grenier et al. 2011; de Graaf et al. 2012).”

“Masked clinical reappraisal with a standardized clinical interview showed fair agreement for specific phobia (area under the receiver operating curve = 0.67; Haro et al. 2006).”

“Interestingly, these retrospective studies showed that in the majority of co-morbid cases, the onset of specific phobia precedes the other disorder(s) (Kessler et al. 1996, 1997; Magee et al. 1996).”

“Those with lower education had higher odds of specific phobia, which has been observed previously (Magee et al. 1996) but not in all surveys (Stinson et al. 2007).”

“A modified version of the Sheehan Disability Scales (SDS; Leon et al. 1997) was used to assess 12month role-functioning.”

“This could have led to recall bias, which has been suggested to lead to underestimated lifetime prevalence rates of common mental disorders (Moffitt et al. 2010).”

“Relatively effective treatments, such as behaviour therapy and cognitive therapy, are available for specific phobia (Choy et al. 2007).”

“Grant et al. (2009) found a lower 1-year incidence rate of 0.44 new cases per 100 person-years.”

“Previously phobia subtypes have been shown to differ in terms of, for example, prevalence, impairment levels and co-morbidity rates (e.g. Fredrikson et al. 1996; Becker et al. 2007; Depla et al. 2008; LeBeau et al. 2010).”

“However, other studies have found low disability in specific phobia compared with other disorders (e.g. Wells et al. 2006; Ormel et al. 2008) and it has been suggested that observed functional impairment in specific phobia can be partly explained by high cooccurrence with other disorders (Comer et…”

“Prospective work has shown that specific phobia is associated with a higher odds of later depressive, anxiety and eating disorders (Goodwin, 2002; Bittner et al. 2004; Trumpf et al. 2010; Lieb et al. 2016) but not of later substance use disorders (Zimmermann et al. 2003).”

“Also, there could be differences in how interview questions are interpreted, social norms, attitudes and stigmas surrounding mental problems (Angermeyer & Dietrich, 2006; Lee et al. 2009).”

“Those with lower education had higher odds of specific phobia, which has been observed previously (Magee et al. 1996) but not in all surveys (Stinson et al. 2007).”

“Prospective work has shown that specific phobia is associated with a higher odds of later depressive, anxiety and eating disorders (Goodwin, 2002; Bittner et al. 2004; Trumpf et al. 2010; Lieb et al. 2016) but not of later substance use disorders (Zimmermann et al. 2003).”

“0%) was in line with previously estimated prevalence rates (3.2–4.5%; LeBeau et al. 2010).”

“…with lifetime and 12-month prevalence estimates in representative population surveys ranging from 7.7 to 12.5% and from 2.0 to 8.8%, respectively (Kessler et al. 1994, 2005; Bijl et al. 1998; Alonso et al. 2004; Wells et al. 2006; Stinson et al. 2007; Grenier et al. 2011; de Graaf et al. 2012).”

“Previously phobia subtypes have been shown to differ in terms of, for example, prevalence, impairment levels and co-morbidity rates (e.g. Fredrikson et al. 1996; Becker et al. 2007; Depla et al. 2008; LeBeau et al. 2010).”

“Subtype-specific analyses showed that animal phobia had the highest cross-national prevalence (3.8%; 1.4–8.1% across countries), in line with previous observations (3.3–7.0%; Curtis et al. 1998; Depla et al. 2008; LeBeau et al. 2010).”

“Income categories were based on the quartiles of country-specific gross household income distributions (Levinson et al. 2010).”

“…of care and financial resources (Saxena et al. 2007; McBain et al. 2012), the perceived need for treatment (Andrade et al. 2014), knowledge Specific phobia in the World Mental Health surveys 1755 about mental healthcare (Palazzo et al. 2014) and prejudices (Clement et al. 2015; Semrau et al. 2015).”

“Interestingly, prevalence rates (e.g. Kessler et al. 1994; Bijl et al. 1998; Stinson et al. 2007) and incidence rates (Bijl et al. 2002; Angst et al. 2016) have been found to be higher in females than in males.”

“…with lifetime and 12-month prevalence estimates in representative population surveys ranging from 7.7 to 12.5% and from 2.0 to 8.8%, respectively (Kessler et al. 1994, 2005; Bijl et al. 1998; Alonso et al. 2004; Wells et al. 2006; Stinson et al. 2007; Grenier et al. 2011; de Graaf et al. 2012).”

“This could be due to cultural differences in the degree to which symptoms of specific phobia are recognized or attributed to a mental disorder and differences in catastrophic cognitions about phobic/anxious symptoms (Hinton & Pollack, 2009; Marques et al. 2011; Hofmann & Hinton, 2014).”

“The actuarial method assumes a constant conditional risk of onset in a given year of life across cohorts and allows for accurate estimations of the onset timings within a year (Halli et al. 1992).”

“1% across countries), in line with previous observations (3.3–7.0%; Curtis et al. 1998; Depla et al. 2008; LeBeau et al. 2010).”

“This could be due to cultural differences in the degree to which symptoms of specific phobia are recognized or attributed to a mental disorder and differences in catastrophic cognitions about phobic/anxious symptoms (Hinton & Pollack, 2009; Marques et al. 2011; Hofmann & Hinton, 2014).”

“Angst et al. (2016) found a cumulative incidence of 26.9% between the ages of 20 and 50 years.”

“In addition, it has been shown that specific phobia patients that do seek treatment take much longer to do so compared with other anxiety disorders (Iza et al. 2013; ten Have et al. 2013).”

“Prospective work has shown that specific phobia is associated with a higher odds of later depressive, anxiety and eating disorders (Goodwin, 2002; Bittner et al. 2004; Trumpf et al. 2010; Lieb et al. 2016) but not of later substance use disorders (Zimmermann et al. 2003).”

“Prospective work has shown that specific phobia is associated with a higher odds of later depressive, anxiety and eating disorders (Goodwin, 2002; Bittner et al. 2004; Trumpf et al. 2010; Lieb et al. 2016) but not of later substance use disorders (Zimmermann et al. 2003).”

“Prospective work has shown that specific phobia is associated with a higher odds of later depressive, anxiety and eating disorders (Goodwin, 2002; Bittner et al. 2004; Trumpf et al. 2010; Lieb et al. 2016) but not of later substance use disorders (Zimmermann et al. 2003).”

“In addition, it has been shown that specific phobia patients that do seek treatment take much longer to do so compared with other anxiety disorders (Iza et al. 2013; ten Have et al. 2013).”

“The observation of a younger AOO distribution in those with multiple fear subtypes also aligns with previous work (Burstein et al. 2012).”

“Treatment for specific phobia was threefold higher in high-income countries than in low-/lower-middleincome countries, which could be due to differences in the availability of care and financial resources (Saxena et al. 2007; McBain et al. 2012), the perceived need for treatment (Andrade et al.”

“…with lifetime and 12-month prevalence estimates in representative population surveys ranging from 7.7 to 12.5% and from 2.0 to 8.8%, respectively (Kessler et al. 1994, 2005; Bijl et al. 1998; Alonso et al. 2004; Wells et al. 2006; Stinson et al. 2007; Grenier et al. 2011; de Graaf et al. 2012).”

“…of care and financial resources (Saxena et al. 2007; McBain et al. 2012), the perceived need for treatment (Andrade et al. 2014), knowledge Specific phobia in the World Mental Health surveys 1755 about mental healthcare (Palazzo et al. 2014) and prejudices (Clement et al. 2015; Semrau et al. 2015).”

“This could be due to cultural differences in the degree to which symptoms of specific phobia are recognized or attributed to a mental disorder and differences in catastrophic cognitions about phobic/anxious symptoms (Hinton & Pollack, 2009; Marques et al. 2011; Hofmann & Hinton, 2014).”

“Young age was also observed to be associated with specific phobia, aligning with previous work (Stinson et al. 2007; Sigström et al. 2016).”

“Research indicates that specific phobias are the most frequently observed psychiatric disorders worldwide (Bandelow & Michaelis, 2015; Wardenaar et al., 2017).”