Today's show is about how to diagnose a phobia, with Dr. Kate Baker of the University of Michigan. In two weeks, we will be back with a second episode on treatment of phobias.

This episode may be most helpful for pre-clinical and clinical students, as well as residents early in their training.

In today's episode we cover:

- Specific phobias (like fear of flying, fear of getting an injection)

- Social phobia (also known as social anxiety disorder), which can include things like fear of public speaking

- Agoraphobia

- Fear neurocircuitry

Specific Phobia criteria: - intense anxiety, almost always provoked by stimulus - avoidance / endured with intense anxiety - anxiety out of proportion to actual danger - clinical distress or impairment (social, occupational, etc) - duration over 6 months - not better explained by another disorder

Social phobia: one additional criterion to the specific phobia criteria is: individual fears that he/she will act in a way or show anxiety symptoms that will be negatively evaluated, such as being rejected or embarrassed.

Agoraphobia: The additional criterion to specific phobia is two or more of the following: Fear of: - using public transportation - being in open spaces - being in enclosed spaces - being in a crowd or line - being outside the home alone

Basic steps of neurocircuitry: 1. signal of danger/trauma inputted into brain 2. brain puts context around this information 3. if brain interpretation is of concern, then fight/flight activated.

Key brain structure in the fear response is the amygdala.

Resources:

You may find it helpful to review fear neurocircuitry from the National Neuroscience Curriculum Initiative website.