Recognizing Specific Phobia

Recognizing Specific Phobia outlines the ICD-11 diagnostic features to support therapists in identifying specific phobias in their clients.

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Professional version

Offers theory, guidance, and prompts for mental health professionals. Downloads are in Fillable PDF format where appropriate.

Overview

Specific phobia is characterized by marked and excessive fear or anxiety concerning a particular object or situation, and which is out of proportion to the actual danger. Common triggers for phobia reactions include heights, certain animals, enclosed spaces, or the sight of blood or injury. People with a phobia tend to avoid the phobic object or situation, or endure them with intense fear or anxiety.

Recognizing Specific Phobia presents the ICD-11 diagnostic criteria to help clinicians identify specific phobia in clients.

Why Use This Resource?

Specific phobia is a common mental health difficulty. This resource:

  • Outlines diagnostic criteria and distinguishing features of specific phobia.
  • Supports clinicians in identifying specific phobias.
  • Helps differentiate specific phobias from other difficulties.

Key Benefits

Clear

Provides a clear description of specific phobia.

Focused

Details the essential and additional clinical features for accurate recognition.

Informed

Drawn from the International Classification of Diseases, 11th Revision (ICD-11: World Health Organization, 2019).

Who is this for?

Specific Phobia

Designed for mental health professionals working with individuals affected by specific phobias.

Integrating it into your practice

01

Understand

Review the key features of specific phobia.

02

Recognize

Identify symptoms of specific phobia in clients.

03

Engage

Discuss whether clients relate to specific phobia.

Theoretical Background & Therapist Guidance

Psychiatric diagnostic frameworks serve multiple purposes. Classification of mental disorders enables clinicians and researchers to speak a common language when describing patterns of experience and behavior, guide appropriate treatment interventions, and act as a coding system for insurance purposes. The success of these classification frameworks has varied across diagnoses but in the best cases has led to improved understanding and treatment of conditions, as well as helping many service users who find such classification valuable (Perkins et al, 2018).

Diagnostic frameworks are not without controversy. They have been criticized on grounds of reliability, validity, and distortions due to commercial interests (Zigler & Phillips, 1961; Frances & Widiger, 2012; Bell, 2017). Perhaps most importantly there are instances where they have had, and continue to have, extremely negative effects upon service users (Perkins et al, 2018). Diagnosis is not the only way of understanding people and their experiences. Many clinicians and their clients find that attending to personal stories and narratives is a helpful approach, and psychological formulation is one technique for bringing together information about what has happened to an individual and the sense that they have made of it (British Psychological Society, 2018).

Notwithstanding the above caveats, the ‘Recognizing...’ series from Psychology Tools is designed to aid clinicians in the recognition and understanding of common mental health problems.

What's inside

  • Detailed description of specific phobia.
  • Essential and additional clinical features based on the ICD-11.
  • Therapist guidance for using the resource.
Get access to this resource

FAQs

Specific phobia is characterized by marked and excessive fear or anxiety concerning a particular object or situation, and which is out of proportion to the actual danger.
Information for the ‘Recognizing...’ series is drawn from the International Classification of Diseases, 11th Revision (ICD-11: World Health Organization, 2019).

How This Resource Improves Clinical Outcomes

Utilizing this resource can help therapists:

  • Recognize common mental health difficulties.
  • Distinguish between different mental health disorders.
  • Apply this knowledge to enhance case conceptualizations, treatment recommendations, and treatment plans.

References And Further Reading

  • Bell, V. (2017). We need to get better at critiquing psychiatric diagnosis. Retrieved from https://mindhacks.com/2017/09/19/why-we-need-to-get-better-at-critiquing-diagnosis/
  • British Psychological Society (2018). Understanding psychiatric diagnosis in adult mental health. Retrieved from: https://web.archive.org/web/20180214095228/https://www1.bps.org.uk/system/files/user-files/Division%20of%20Clinical%20Psychology/public/DCP%20Diagnosis.pdf
  • Frances, A. J., & Widiger, T. (2012). Psychiatric diagnosis: lessons from the DSM-IV past and cautions for the DSM-5 future. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 8, 109-130.
  • Perkins, A., Ridler, J., Browes, D., Peryer, G., Notley, C., & Hackmann, C. (2018). Experiencing mental health diagnosis: a systematic review of service user, clinician, and carer perspectives across clinical settings. The Lancet Psychiatry, 5(9), 747-764.
  • World Health Organization. (2019). International Classification of Diseases, 11th Revision (ICD-11). Geneva: World Health Organization.
  • Zigler, E., & Phillips, L. (1961). Psychiatric diagnosis: A critique. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 63(3), 607.

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