March Spotlight-April -Fears/Phobia

(Review of November, 2022 training delivered to PBS Mental Health team by Dr. Christopher Smith)

Specific phobias are marked fear or anxiety about a specific object or situation (e.g., flying, heights, animals, receiving an injection, seeing blood). The phobic object or situation almost always provokes immediate fear or anxiety, and is actively avoided or endured with intense fear or anxiety. The fear or anxiety is out of proportion to the actual danger posed by the specific object or situation and to the sociocultural context. The fear/anxiety/avoidance causes clinically significant distress or impairment in important areas of functioning, and lasts for 6 months or more. Some examples of phobias include: A fear of animals (e.g., spiders, insects, dogs), a fear of things in the natural environment (e.g., heights, storms, water), a fear of blood or injection injury (e.g., needles, invasive medical procedures), or situational fears (e.g., airplanes, elevators, enclosed places).

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