Mastery of Your Specific Phobia

Book excerpt: Mastery of Your Specific Phobia is an empirically-supported, cognitive-behavioral treatment program designed for patients diagnosed with a specific phobia, according to DSM-IV criteria. The program describes treatment strategies for a variety of specific phobias, including animal phobias, natural environment phobias, situational phobias, blood, injection, or injury phobias and other phobias.The Therapist Guide presents information on the development and efficacy of cognitive-behavioral treatment for specific phobias and guides the clinician through a session-by-session treatment program. Detailed therapeutic interventions are described to help clients manage fear and anxiety, including objective self-monitoring techniques, systematic desensitization, and cognitive restructuring. Interoceptive and in-vivo exposure exercises are presented to help clients overcome phobic avoidance.