Mental health articles

There is widespread agreement that the treatment of choice for phobic fear and avoidance is in vivo exposure. Some evidence has even suggested that excellent gains can be achieved through a single session of intensive exposure. Some attempts have been made to match the reported mode of acquisition or individual differences to specific types of treatment, but these have provided mixed success. Further, the addition of cognitive restructuring, relaxation, or drug treatment has generally not provided increased gains over basic exposure.
The one exception may be blood and injury phobia for which the addition of applied tension improved gains, especially for some subjects. Few studies have tested psychopharmacology in treating specific phobias. Some research has shown minimal, shortterm effects from using benzodiazepines and betablockers, but improvements did not generalize or last.

Tags: phobia, specific phobia, treatment