This guidebook provides information about the core characteristics, developmental factors and treatment options of various phobic disorders and offers numerous tips and suggestions for self-help. Using vivid case studies, it illustrates how normal fear reactions differ from phobic fear reactions, why avoidance plays an important role in the maintenance of phobic fears, which fear-producing assumptions and expectations typically underlie phobic disorders, and why these are unfounded in the vast majority of cases.

The guidebook provides a sound insight into psychotherapeutic treatment options for phobic fears and informs about the effectiveness of different psychotherapeutic and medicinal procedures. Readers who initially want to tackle their anxiety problem on their own are provided with concrete tips for planning and carrying out effective exercises. In addition, it provides suggestions for relatives on how to deal with and support their phobic family members.

For:
• those affected and their families
• psychotherapists
• psychiatrists
• employees in counseling centers