Prevention and care

Since people who suffer from specific phobias rarely seek treatment, it is difficult to obtain all the relevant information on the evolution of specific phobias, which are, nonetheless, considered one of the easiest anxiety disorders to treat, responding very well to exposure-based therapy. Medication is rarely necessary. But without treatment, specific phobias, whose onset is often in infancy, have a tendency to continue into adulthood and to persist for many years without, however, showing any variation in intensity. .

Cognitive-behavioural therapy, individual or group, and pharmacological treatment are the two approaches recommended for treating social phobia. According to the latest studies, the two approaches are almost identically effective. However, the rate of relapse is known to be less with psychological treatment. Some patients may receive the two treatments simultaneously (combined treatment). According to those studies, the combined treatment is no more effective than the other types of treatment. Antidepressants are the pharmacological treatment of choice, with dosage similar to that used in treating depression. It is difficult to predict the length of pharmacological treatment; it may run from a dozen months to several years. 

Agoraphobia is treated using the same approaches as those recommended for social phobia. However, patients suffering from agoraphobia respond better to the treatment than patients suffering from social phobia.  

Because treatment may greatly improve the quality of life of someone suffering from phobias, people should seek help if they believe they are suffering from some kind of phobia. It is important that they first consult their family doctor who can make a diagnosis, prescribe medication if necessary, and direct them to more specialized services, psychological or other, depending on the severity of the phobia.