Simple Phobias are one of the most prevalent mental health problems.  They are considered a gateway mental disorder and most often occur with another phobia or anxiety disorder (e.g., GAD, OCD, PTSD).  The average age of onset for a phobia is 7 to 9 years old, and phobias are perhaps the most frequent mental health problem among children and adolescents. The lifetime prevalence of phobias is 12.5%, and the average duration of a phobia is 20 years.  That's twenty years of fearing and organizing your life around avoiding dogs, spiders, heights, blood, elevators, flying, or some other fear! Interestingly, most people never seek treatment for phobias, even though highly cost- and time-effective treatments exist.

People, both young and old, with simple phobias may experience difficulties with functioning at school, work, and in their relationships.  When left untreated, young people with simple phobias can develop into adults with additional phobias and other anxiety disorders.  Of note, young people most frequently experience animal type and the natural environment type phobias.

There are five simple phobia subtypes:

·   animal type (e.g. dogs, cats, spiders, snakes, and bees)

·   natural environment type (e.g. darkness, heights, storms, water)

·   blood-injection-injury type (e.g. blood, needles, and shots)

·   situational type (e.g. elevators, enclosed spaces, flying, trains, bridges

·  and, other type, like loud noises, clowns, and ketchup bottles.

At MCG, we offer highly effective phobia treatments in terms of time and money.  One such treatment is called Intensive One Session Treatment (OST) for Phobias.  Psychological research has repeatedly demonstrated that OST rapidly reduces the clinical severity of the specific phobia or even eliminates it.  Additionally, OST has been shown to reduce the clinical severity of co-occuring phobias and other anxiety disorders, even though they are not targeted specifically by OST! At a very minimum, at 3 months post-OST, you will likely not fear the targeted phobia at all.  

Dr. Lars Göran-Öst, the developer of this treatment, has suggested that patients who complete OST for phobias experience an increase in self-efficacy that may help them deal with other problems more constructively. Perhaps this is why patients who complete OST experience a reduction in the severity of other fears they have.  This is precisely one of the main reasons we offer this treatment at MCG: we want you to feel empowered again and help you improve the quality of your life.  We want you to experience that.  We offer the most effective treatment for simple phobias because, with our help, we know you can.