Abstract
Specific phobia is a common, heterogeneous disorder whose central feature is persistent,
unreasonable fear of a circumscribed object or situation. This article reviews current
etiological theories and empirical data that seem likely to be important in investigating
the pathophysiology of this disorder. These include conditioning, modified conditioning,
and nonassociative models of phobia development, physiological response to the phobic
stimulus, neuroimaging, primate, and biological challenge studies. Pathophysiological
hypotheses suggested by recent research on the neurcircuitry of conditioned fear are
also discussed. Though specific phobias have been of less public health and clinical
interest than other anxiety disorders, their circumscribed nature and possible relationship
to conditioned fear may make them a productive subject for research into basic pathophysiology.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
August 7,
1998
Received in revised form:
August 4,
1998
Received:
April 28,
1998
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© 1998 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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