The DOI matches its Crossref record; 53 of the 54 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The cross-national epidemiology of specific phobia in the World Mental Health Surveys
Open accessAbstract
Background: Although specific phobia is highly prevalent, associated with impairment, and an important risk factor for the development of other mental disorders, cross-national epidemiological data are scarce, especially from low- and middle-income countries. This paper presents epidemiological data from 22 low-, lower-middle-, upper-middle- and high-income countries. Method: Data came from 25 representative population-based surveys conducted in 22 countries (2001–2011) as part of the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys initiative (n = 124 902). The presence of specific phobia as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition was evaluated using the World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Results: The cross-national lifetime and 12-month prevalence rates of specific phobia were, respectively, 7.4% and 5.5%, being higher in females (9.8 and 7.7%) than in males (4.9% and 3.3%) and higher in high- and higher-middle-income countries than in low-/lower-middle-income countries. The median age of onset was young (8 years). Of the 12-month patients, 18.7% reported severe role impairment (13.3–21.9% across income groups) and 23.1% reported any treatment (9.6–30.1% across income groups). Lifetime co-morbidity was observed in 60.5% of those with lifetime specific phobia, with the onset of specific phobia preceding the other disorder in most cases (72.6%). Interestingly, rates of impairment, treatment use and co-morbidity increased with the number of fear subtypes. Conclusions: Specific phobia is common and associated with impairment in a considerable percentage of cases. Importantly, specific phobia often precedes the onset of other mental disorders, making it a possible early-life indicator of psychopathology vulnerability.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“However, most patients with specific phobias, including AP, do not seek treatment for this condition [9], possibly owing to fears about what treatment will involve [10].”
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 [9]
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Second, though patient characteristics match many of the typical BII phobia demographic criteria (10, 12, 29, 32), severity was very high and combined with probable panic-triggered PNES.”
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 [12]
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Compared to other specific phobias, FP presents the highest rates of treatment-seeking (Wardenaar et al., 2017), which makes it clear that there is a need for well-established evidence-based treatments for this problem.”
From An Internet-based treatment for Flying Phobia using 360° images: Study protocol for a feasibility pilot study (2021) · cites this paper as Wardenaar et al., 2017
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
Kessler, R. C., Berglund, P., Demler, O., Jin, R., Merikangas, K. R., & Walters, E. E. (2005) · Archives of General Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/archpsyc.62.6.593 · Cited by 20,391 · cited 1×
“…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).”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationKessler, R. C. (1994) · Archives of General Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/archpsyc.1994.03950010008002 · Cited by 12,370 · cited 2×
“…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).”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationKessler, R. C., & Üstün, T. B. (2004) · International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research · doi:10.1002/mpr.168 · Cited by 4,771 · cited 2×
“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).”
MethodSelf-citationClement, S., Schauman, O., Graham, T., Maggioni, F., Evans-Lacko, S., Bezborodovs, N., Morgan, C., Rüsch, N., Brown, J. S. L., & Thornicroft, G. (2015) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291714000129 · Cited by 3,152 · cited 1×
“…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).”
Kessler, R. C. (1997) · Archives of General Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/archpsyc.1997.01830160031005 · Cited by 2,085 · cited 2×
“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).”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationResources for mental health: scarcity, inequity, and inefficiency
Saxena, S., Thornicroft, G., Knapp, M., & Whiteford, H. (2007) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(07)61239-2 · Cited by 1,789 · cited 2×
“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.”
Introduction to Variance Estimation.
King, B. F., & Wolter, K. M. (1987) · Journal of the American Statistical Association · doi:10.2307/2289497 · Cited by 1,377
Barriers to mental health treatment: results from the WHO World Mental Health surveys
Andrade, L. H., Alonso, J., Mneimneh, Z., Wells, J. E., Al-Hamzawi, A., Borges, G., Bromet, E., Bruffaerts, R., de Girolamo, G., de Graaf, R., et al. (2014) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291713001943 · Cited by 1,289 · cited 1×
“…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…”
Self-citationAngermeyer, M. C., & Dietrich, S. (2005) · Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica · doi:10.1111/j.1600-0447.2005.00699.x · Cited by 1,238 · cited 1×
“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).”
BackgroundBijl, R. V., Ravelli, A., & van Zessen, G. (1998) · Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology · doi:10.1007/s001270050098 · Cited by 1,216 · cited 3×
“…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).”
BackgroundInfluential
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- Kessler, 2008, The WHO World Mental Health Surveys: Global Perspectives on the Epidemiology of Mental Disorders
- 2008, World Bank Data and Statistics
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Penninx, B. W., Pine, D. S., Holmes, E. A., & Reif, A. (2021) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(21)00359-7 · Cited by 740
Arpacı, İ., Karataş, K., & Балоглу, М. (2020) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2020.110108 · Cited by 434
“Research indicates that specific phobias are the most frequently observed psychiatric disorders worldwide (Bandelow & Michaelis, 2015; Wardenaar et al., 2017).”
Wechsler, T. F., Kümpers, F., & Mühlberger, A. (2019) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01758 · Cited by 282
Eaton, W. W., Bienvenu, O. J., & Miloyan, B. (2018) · The Lancet Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s2215-0366(18)30169-x · Cited by 203
Sharma, E., Sharma, L. P., Balachander, S., Lin, B., Manohar, H., Khanna, P., Lu, C., Garg, K., Thomas, T. L., Au, A. C. L., et al. (2021) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2021.703701 · Cited by 221
Metadata
- Authors
- Wardenaar, K. J., Lim, C. C. W., Al-Hamzawi, A. O., Alonso, J., Andrade, L. H., Benjet, C., Bunting, B., de Girolamo, G., Demyttenaere, K., Florescu, S. E., Gureje, O., Hisateru, T., Hu, C., Huang, Y., Karam, E., Kiejna, A., Lepine, J. P., Navarro-Mateu, F., Oakley Browne, M., Piazza, M., Posada-Villa, J., ten Have, M. L., Torres, Y., Xavier, M., Zarkov, Z., Kessler, R. C., Scott, K. M., & de Jonge, P.
- Affiliations
- University Medical Center Groningen (NL)
- University of Otago (NZ)
- University of Al-Qadisiyah (IQ)
- Hospital Del Mar (ES)
- Universidade de São Paulo (BR)
- Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz (MX)
- University of Ulster (GB)
- Universitair Ziekenhuis Leuven (BE)
- National School of Public Health, Management and Professional Development (RO)
- University of Ibadan (NG)
- National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry (JP)
- Shenzhen KangNing Hospital (CN)
- Peking University (CN)
- University of Balamand (LB)
- Wroclaw Medical University (PL)
- Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (PE)
- Universidad El Bosque (CO)
- Universidad CES (CO)
- Universidade Nova de Lisboa (PT)
- National Center of Public Health and Analyses (BG)
- Harvard University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Wardenaar, K. J.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Psychological Medicine
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2017-02-22
- Volume
- 47
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 1744-1760
- ISSN
- 0033-2917 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-8978
- PMC
- PMC5674525
- OpenAlex
- W2590938221
- Cited by
- 227
- References
- 54
- Citations by year
- 2026: 19 · 2025: 28 · 2024: 30 · 2023: 37 · 2022: 36 · 2021: 31 · 2020: 22 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 3
- FWCI
- 17.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Psychological Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Repositori digital de la UPF (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (5r13mh066849-04, 5r01mh069864-04, 5r01mh070884-05)
- National Institute of Mental Health (R13-MH-066849, R01‐MH070884, R01MH061905, R01MH059575, U01MH060220, R01‐MH069864)
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (K05DA015799, R01DA016558)
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R01GM061905)
- Fogarty International Center (R03TW006481)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- 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
- Keywords
- specific phobia, prevalence, cross-national comparison, income level, sex differences, age of onset, role impairment, treatment utilization, comorbidities, vulnerability to psychopathology, low- and middle-income countries
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Employment, Female, Health Surveys, Humans, Male, Mental Health, Middle Aged, Phobic Disorders, Sex Factors, Socioeconomic Factors, Global Health, World Health Organization, Comorbidity, Prevalence, Age of Onset, Young Adult
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
