Theories of specific phobias consider classical conditioning as a central mechanism in the pathogenesis and maintenance of the disorder. Although the neuronal network underlying human fear conditioning is understood in considerable detail, no study to date has examined the neuronal correlates of fear conditioning directly in patients with specific phobias. Using functional magnet resonance imag...

There is frequent debate in the media and the scientific published reports about the use of radiation for diagnosis and treatment, the benefits and risks of the nuclear industry, uranium mining and the storage of radioactive wastes. Driving this debate is increasing concern about reliance on fossil fuels for power generation for which alternatives are required. Unfortunately, there is generally...

Our objective was to examine the neurobiology of social phobia from the perspectives of basic sciences, genetics, immunology, neuroendocrinology, neurotransmission and neuroimaging and to provide an integrated understanding of social phobia in the framework of a hypothetical neural circuit. Family and twin studies provide evidence that social phobia is heritable with significant genetic influen...

BACKGROUND Most neuroimaging studies of specific phobia have investigated the animal subtype. The blood-injection-injury (BII) subtype is characterized by a unique biphasic psychophysiological response, which could suggest a distinct neural substrate, but direct comparisons between phobia types are lacking. METHOD This study compared the neural responses during the presentation of phobia-spec...

This study investigates the impact of social phobia on adherence to and outcomes 6 months following standard alcohol treatment and Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) group meetings among alcohol-dependent patients with and without social phobia. In a cohort study, 300 detoxified alcohol-dependent individuals in Porto Alegre, Brazil, were interviewed during, as well as 3 and 6 months after hospital detox...

This study's primary goal was to examine relations between symptoms of specific social phobia (SSP), generalized social phobia (GSP), avoidant personality disorder (APD), and panic and depression. Past research has suggested a single social phobia continuum in which SSP displays less symptom severity than GSP or APD. We found SSP symptoms correlated less strongly with depression but more strong...

Vision is the key sensory system in humans, leading to the implicit assumption that the acquisition of spider phobia is predominantly mediated through the visual pathway. We report on a congenitally blind person with spider phobia, showing that the acquisition of spider phobia does not necessarily depend on visual cues.

Background: Individuals with social phobia are more likely to misinterpret ambiguous social situations as more threatening, i.e. they show an interpretive bias. This study investigated whether such a bias also exists in specific phobia. Methods: Individuals with spider phobia or social phobia, spider aficionados and non-phobic controls saw morphed stimuli that gradually transformed from a schem...

Social phobia and depression are common and highly comorbid disorders in adolescence. There is a lack of studies on possible psychosocial shared risk factors for these disorders. The current study examined if low social support is a shared risk factor for both disorders among adolescent girls and boys. This study is a part of the Adolescent Mental Health Cohort Study's two-year follow-up. We st...

locus of control refers to the extent to which individuals believe they can control events affecting them. social anxiety disorder, also known as social phobia, is the most common anxiety disorder. it is characterized by intense fear in one or more social situations. the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between locus of control with anxiety and social phobia in adolescent’s...