Fears are common in children and adolescents. However, for some youth, these fears persist and develop into specific phobias. A specific phobia is an intense, enduring fear of an identifiable object or situation that may lead to panic symptoms, distress, and avoidance (e.g., fears of dogs, snakes, storms, heights, costumed characters, the dark, and similar objects or situations). Moreover, phobias can affect a youngster's quality of life by interfering with school, family, friends, and free-time. It is estimated that 5% to 10% of youth will develop a phobia before reaching the age of 16.

Information about the Study

An exciting new project sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health (1R01-MH074777) is underway at the Child Study Center. This project is open to families and children of ages 7 to 12 years with specific phobias.

Children participating in the study will be assessed prior to treatment, throughout treatment, and following treatment. All treatment sessions will be free. Qualifying families will receive payment for each of 5 different assessment sessions ($50 for each assessment session, up to $250 total).

Assessments will be conducted prior to treatment, immediately following treatment, and at 1-month, 6-months, and 1-year follow-up intervals. While participating in the treatment, you and your child will be asked to complete some surveys and answer questions about what sorts of difficulties your child has been experiencing recently. The treatment is based on cognitive-behavioral therapy principles and helps you and your child build skills through education, modeling, and gradual exposure to the phobic object or situation.

To see if your child or teen (7-12 years old) qualifies for this free and confidential study, please contact us using one of the following methods:

- Phone: 540-231-8276

- E-mail: childphobias@vt.edu

Some of the more common phobias we treat are listed below; however, this list is not a complete list. We treat a variety of other phobias as well.

• Being alone (monophobia)
• Dark and nighttime fears (nyctophobia)
• Dogs (cynophobia)
• Enclosed spaces (claustrophobia)
• Heights (acrophobia)
• Insects (entomophobia)
• Snakes (ophidiophobia)
• Spiders (arachnophobia)
• Storms, Lightning, and Thunder (brontophobia)
• Water (hydrophobia)