Recognizing Specific Phobia
Specific phobia is characterized by marked and excessive fear or anxiety concerning a particular object or situation, and which is out of proportion to the actual danger. Common triggers for phobia reactions include heights, certain animals, enclosed spaces, or the sight of blood or injury. People with a phobia tend to avoid the phobic object or situation, or endure them with intense fear or anxiety. Recognizing Specific Phobia presents the ICD-11 diagnostic criteria to help clinicians identify specific phobia in clients.
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Offers theory, guidance, and prompts for mental health professionals. Downloads are in Fillable PDF format where appropriate.
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Introduction & Theoretical Background
Psychiatric diagnostic frameworks serve multiple purposes. Classification of mental disorders enables clinicians and researchers to speak a common language when describing patterns of experience and behavior, guide appropriate treatment interventions, and act as a coding system for insurance purposes. The success of these classification frameworks has varied across diagnoses but in the best cases has led to improved understanding and treatment of conditions, as well as helping many service users who find such classification valuable (Perkins et al, 2018).
Diagnostic frameworks are not without controversy. They have been criticized on grounds of reliability, validity, and distortions due to commercial interests (Zigler & Phillips, 1961; Frances & Widiger, 2012; Bell, 2017). Perhaps most importantly there are instances where they have had, and continue to have, extremely negative effects upon service users (Perkins et al, 2018). Diagnosis is not the only way of understanding people and their experiences. Many clinicians and their
Therapist Guidance
The assessment and diagnosis of mental health problems should only be undertaken by qualified mental health professionals. Attempting to self-diagnose or diagnose others without proper training can lead to inaccurate conclusions, inappropriate treatments, and potential harm. Information for the ‘Recognizing...’ series was drawn from the International Classification of Diseases, 11th Revision (ICD-11: World Health Organization, 2019).
References And Further Reading
- Bell, V. (2017). We need to get better at critiquing psychiatric diagnosis. Retrieved from https://mindhacks.com/2017/09/19/why-we-need-to-get-better-at-critiquing-diagnosis/
- British Psychological Society (2018). Understanding psychiatric diagnosis in adult mental health. Retrieved from: https://web.archive.org/web/20180214095228/https://www1.bps.org.uk/system/files/user-files/Division%20of%20Clinical%20Psychology/public/DCP%20Diagnosis.pdf
- Frances, A. J., & Widiger, T. (2012). Psychiatric diagnosis: lessons from the DSM-IV past and cautions for the DSM-5 future. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 8, 109-130.
- Perkins, A., Ridler, J., Browes, D., Peryer, G., Notley, C., & Hackmann, C. (2018). Experiencing mental health diagnosis: a systematic review of service user, clinician, and carer perspectives across clinical settings. The Lancet Psychiatry, 5(9), 747-764.
- World Health Organization. (2019). International Classification of Diseases, 11th Revision (ICD-11). Geneva: World Health Organization.
- Zigler, E., & Phillips, L. (1961). Psychiatric diagnosis: A critique. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 63(3), 607.