Childhood phobias can be successfully treated using a variety of behavioral strategies, provided there has been a psychometrically sound assessment. Measures are also important for the evaluation of treatment efficacy and the testing of hypotheses generated by new ideas and theories of children's phobias. This paper outlines broad-based assessment procedures used in the evaluation of children's...

Disabling phobias and phobia like compulsive rituals are surprisingly common in the general population, though only a minority ask for help. Behavioural treatment (exposure) and antidepressants are the most helpful approaches. Most patients can help themselves if they use a self exposure approach systematically under the guidance of a clinician. The method seems well suited for use by general p...

Specific phobias are considered among the most common mental disorders. Besides structured and semistructured interviews various self report measures and behavioral approach tests form an important part of comprehensive assessment. Exposure based therapies (EBT) outperform most nonexposure treatments and are considered the treatment of choice. Various factors affect the efficacy of EBT and newe...

Disgust has been implicated in the onset and maintenance of blood-injection-injury (BII) and animal phobias. Research suggests that people with these phobias are characterized by an elevated sensitivity to disgust-evoking stimuli separate from their phobic concerns. The disgust response has been described as the rejection of potential contaminants. Disgust-motivated avoidance of phobic stimuli ...