Fears and Phobias

only given a rough idea of their actual numbers in the general community. They can also cause tremendous distress and disability to people over many years. Nevertheless, there has been a tendency in the past to treat them mainly as medical curiosities and few probics benefited much from the attentions of doctors. Even recent editions of standard psychiatric textbooks have dealt very inadequately with this topic, compared with their presentation of relatively uncommon organic conditions. The only other books concerning themselves with phobias have been psychoanalytical and these have consisted of little more than theoretical jargon, mixed with anecdotal case material.