Example of Specific Phobia Twelve-year-old Jack is deathly afraid of dogs, planes, and getting shots. He has been this way as long as he can remember and makes an effort to avoid relevant situations as much as possible. For example, Jack will call and make sure that his friend does not have a dog before going over to the friend's house. If his friend does have a dog, he will refuse to go even though he really wants to. When in a situation with a dog, Jack will either cry, freeze, or try to escape. He is convinced that dogs are vicious and will bite and attack him if given the chance. Jack also avoids airplanes as much as possible but, when air travel is absolutely necessary, he worries for weeks in advance and relies on sleeping medications to help him on the day of the flight

The main feature of specific phobia is a persistent and excessive fear that is cued or triggered by the presence or anticipation of a specific object or situation. Exposure to a phobic object immediately and always results in an anxiety response that may be characterized by panic. Many children and adolescents do not realize that their anxiety is excessive or unreasonable and may believe that their fearful responses are justified. In other words, young people may fully believe that the threatening object or event will really harm them if they do not avoid it. The anxiety response causes considerable distress for the child or adolescent and/or interferes with normal everyday functioning at home, at school, or with friends.

As can be seen below, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) currently has the most research evidence for the treatment of young people with specific phobia. This treatment can be administered in the variety of different formats listed below.

	Well-Established What does this mean?	Probably Efficacious What does this mean?	Possibly Efficacious What does this mean?
Specific Phobia (SP)	None	None	CBT Emotive imagery for SP of darkness In-vivo behavioral exposures with EMDR for SP of spiders Exposures plus contingency management for SP Exposures plus self-control for SP One-session exposure treatment for SP One-session exposure treatment with parents for SP

Source: Silverman, W. K., Pina, A. A., & Viswesvaran, Chockalingam (2008). Evidence-based psychosocial treatments for phobic and anxiety disorders in children and adolescents: A review and meta-analyses. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 37, 105-130.