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Table 18 Psychological treatments with demonstrated efficacy in specific phobias

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

Psychological treatment

Phobia

Exposure-based treatments

All specific phobias [57, 311, 312]

Virtual reality exposure

Heights [327–329], flying [319, 321–324], spiders [331, 332], claustrophobia [330]

Computer-based self-help programs

Spiders [334, 335], flying [323], small animals [336, 337]

Applied muscle tension (exposure combined with muscle tension exercises)

Blood-injection-injury type [311, 315, 316]

Cognitive therapy and exposure

Dental [318], flying [319, 320]