Building the Case for Brief Psychointerventions in the Treatment of Specific Phobias in Children and Adolescents

Abstract

Specific phobias are one of the most prevalent childhood anxiety disorders. Research suggests that phobias in children, such as animal or situational phobias, lead to significant impairments in peer relations, social and academic competence. Hence it is imperative to treat phobias within children and adolescents early to avoid more serious, engrained symptoms later in the lifespan. This review focuses on traditional exposure-based cognitive–behavioural therapies, and the more recent one-session exposure therapy for phobia treatment (Ost, 1987), a procedure that has only begun to be administered to children. Further, controlled trials evaluating the efficacy of 1-session exposure therapy with phobic children are urgently required. We also address challenges for researchers using psycho-education to control nonspecific treatment effects.