Skip to main content

Table 16 DSM-5 diagnosis of specific phobia

From: Canadian clinical practice guidelines for the management of anxiety, posttraumatic stress and obsessive-compulsive disorders

• Marked fear or anxiety about a specific object or situation (e.g., flying, seeing blood)

• The phobic object or situation almost always provokes immediate fear or anxiety and is actively avoided or endured with marked fear or anxiety

• The fear or anxiety is out of proportion to the actual danger posed by the specific object or situation

• The fear, anxiety, or avoidance is persistent, typically ≥6 months

• There is marked distress or functional impairment

  1. Adapted from DSM-5 [26].
Back to article page

BMC Psychiatry

ISSN: 1471-244X

Contact us