Phobias: Still undertreated

A recent survey of 9,282 households found essentially what the National Cachement Area study found over 15 years ago. Phobias are still more likely to affect someone at some point in their lives than any other emotional disorder.

About 25% of adults will be affected in their lifetime, compared to depression (17%) or alcohol abuse (13%). Also, it still takes longer for anxious persons to seek help (9 to 23 years) than for depressives (6 to 8 years) or substance abusers (5 to 9 years).

We will keep up the good fight, of course, but it will require that celebrities and famous people own up to their photias and a bast educational program, before phobias have the visibility and panache that alcoholism and its treatment has in this country.

Source: Archives of General Psychiatry, June, 2005