The etiology of specific phobias: A review

ABSTRACT. The present article summarizes themy and data about symptomutology, epid.emi-o&y, and etiology of specijii phobias. Additionally, the cognitive mechanisms involved in spe-cific phobias are briefly discussed. By and Icrrg, the general pattern behind tk development of specific phobias can be summarized as follows. Specijk fears are highly preualent among young children. In most children, these fears r@esent transitory phenomma. Howevq in a small sub grvup of children, speczfu: fears become chronic due to classical conditioning, modelling, and/or negative infMmation transmission. Once a specjk phobia bus okveluped, it may be maintained by cognitive biases (i.e., attentional bias, covariation bias, and reasoning bias). Though specif ic phobias form a heterogeneous class of disomks, this pattern appears to be a good approxima-tion. Neverth.ebzss, everal questions remain. For example, there is no ready explanation for the fact that specijc phobias are mo7e often diagnosed in women than in mm. Similarly, it is not clear to what extent he nonrandom distribution of phobias can be interp-ted in terms of cultural factors. Resolving these issues is not only important in its own right, but may have considerable kristic value fm our unokrstanding of other anxiety disorti. SPECIFIC (formerly “simple, ” “monosymptomatic, ” or “focal”) phobias are irrationa