Current approaches to etiology and pathophysiology of specific phobia

Specific phobia is a common, heterogeneous disorder whose central feature i s persistent, unreasonable fear of a circumscribed object or situation. Thi s article reviews current etiological theories and empirical data that seem likely to be important in investigating the pathophysiology of this disord er. These include conditioning, modified conditioning, and nonassociative m odels of phobia development, physiological response to the phobic stimulus, neuroimaging, primate, and biological challenge studies. Pathophysiologica l hypotheses suggested by recent research on the neurcircuitry of condition ed fear are also discussed. Though specific phobias have been of less publi c health and clinical interest than other anxiety disorders, their circumsc ribed nature and possible relationship to conditioned fear may make them a productive subject for research into basic pathophysiology. Biol Psychiatry 1998;44:1295-1304 (C) 1998 Society of Biological Psychiatry.