Specific Phobias

Specific phobia is one of the most prevalent mental health disorders; however, only 8% of individuals with a specific phobia seek treatment. One-Session Treatment (OST), a single-session exposure-based therapy, has been established as a brief, efficacious treatment for specific phobias in children, adolescents, and young adults. This chapter provides an overview of the phenomenology, etiology, epidemiology, and comorbidities of specific phobias before discussing how OST can be utilized to treat specific phobias. An overview of each component of OST (e.g., functional assessment, massed session, follow-up, and refractory cases) is provided, followed by a case study illustrating how OST can be implemented with a child seeking treatment for a specific phobia. Additionally, this chapter highlights that while OST allows for flexibility in implementation, future research is needed to better understand when and how modifications (e.g., including parents, adaptations for comorbidities) to OST should be made when treating children, adolescents, and young adults with specific phobias.