Interviewers' notes about section B: Specific phobias
This section is about intense and disabling fears of specific objects and
situations. Most children have some fears, but what we mainly want to find
out is whether they have a phobia that may need treatment. To decide that
a fear is a phobia, what we are looking for is evidence that a fear is so
strong that it is either causing considerable distress or that it is
interfering with the child's life because he or she is going to great
lengths to avoid the feared stimulus. So we wouldn't be particularly
interested in a fear of snakes if this did not cause a lot of distress
and only led to the child avoiding the reptile house when going to the zoo.
We would, however, take seriously a fear of thunder that was so intense
that the child often refused to leave the house just in case a storm
suddenly brewed up and thunder began whilst they were away from home.
The section on specific phobias begins by asking about the situations or
objects that children are most often scared of. We want to know about all
the child's fears. Again, as in the previous section, we are interested in
how the child is usually and not just on the occasional 'off day'.
Some fears are seasonal and if you just asked about the last few months,
you might miss them. For example, some children are truly phobic of wasps
or daddy-long-legs but if you asked in March whether they are scared of
them every day, the answer would probably be 'No'. For these seasonal
phobias, it is important to ask about the children's fears and behaviours
in the relevant season.
'Do [child's name]'s fears lead to his/her avoiding the things s/he is afraid of?'
Sometimes, interviewers are reluctant to ask this question because they can't
see how a child could avoid the situation or object that they are afraid of -
loud noises, for example. But the truth is that children can be very inventive
in finding (or trying to find) ways to avoid things they are afraid of. For
example, a child who is afraid of loud noises may try to avoid fireworks parties
or may refuse to go to school on days when they are due to test the fire alarms.
<< Previous Next >>
Last modified : 05/09/09
|