There are a variety of treatment options available for<unk> s, most of which focus on psychosocial interventions. Different psychological treatments have varying levels of effects depending on the<unk>  being addressed. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) Cognitive behavioral therapy is a short term, skills-focused therapy that aims to help people diffuse unhelpful emotional responses by helping people consider them differently or change their behavior. CBT represents the gold standard and first line of therapy in<unk> s. CBT is effective in treating<unk> s primarily through exposure and cognitive strategies to overcome a person's anxiety. Computer-assisted treatment programs, self-help manuals, and delivery by a trained practitioner are all methods of accessing CBT. A single session of CBT in one of these modalities can be effective for individuals suffering from<unk> . Exposure therapy Exposure therapy is a particularly effective form of CBT for many<unk> s, however, treatment acceptance and high drop-out rates have been noted as concerns. In addition, a third of people who complete exposure therapy as a treatment for<unk>  may not respond, regardless of the type of exposure therapy. Other interventions have been successful for particular types of<unk> , such as virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) for spider, dental, and height phobias, applied muscle tension (AMT) for needle phobia, and psychoeducation with relaxation exercises for fear of childbirth. With exposure therapy, a type of cognitive-behavioural therapy, clinically significant improvement was experienced by up to 90% of patients. While very long-term outcomes remain unknown, many of the benefits of exposure therapy persisted after one year. Treatment may be more successful at reducing symptoms in people with low trait anxiety, high motivation, and high self-efficacy entering exposure therapy. In addition, high cortisol levels, high heart rate variation, evoking disgust, avoiding relaxation, focusing on cognitive changes, context variation, sleep, and memory-enhancing drugs can also reduce symptoms following exposure therapy. Exposure can be "live"(in real life) or imaginal (in ones imagination) and can involve: * Systematic desensitization—A therapy that exposes the person to increasing levels of vivid stimuli gradually and frequently, while instructed to relax. * Flooding—A therapy that exposes the person with a<unk>  to the most fearful stimulus first (i.e. the most intense part of the phobia). Patients are at great risk for dropping out of treatment as this method repeatedly exposes the patient to the fear. * Modeling—This method includes the clinician approaching the feared stimuli while the patient observes and tries to repeat the approach themselves. Exposures that are imaginal are less effective.<unk> ally for acrophobia, in-vivo exposure (exposure to real-world height-scenarios while maintaining anxiety at controlled levels) has been shown to significantly improve measures of anxiety in the short-term, but this effect decreased over a longer term. Likewise, virtual reality exposure was statistically significant in some measures of anxiety reduction, but not others. Pharmacotherapeutics As of late 2020, there is limited evidence for the use of pharmacotherapy in the treatment of<unk> . Pharmacological treatments are typically used in combination with behaviorally-focused psychotherapy, as introducing pharmacological interventions independently may result in relapsing of symptoms. Different treatments are better suited for certain types of<unk> . For instance, beta blockers are useful in those with performance anxiety. The selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs), paroxetine and escitalopram, have shown preliminary efficacy in small randomized controlled clinical trials. However, these trials were too small to show any definitive benefits of anxiolytic medication alone in treating phobia. Benzodiazepines are occasionally used for acute symptom relief, but have not been shown to be effective for long term treatment. There are some findings suggesting that adjuvant use of the NMDA receptor partial agonist, d-cycloserine, with virtual reality exposure therapy may improve<unk>  symptoms more than virtual reality exposure therapy alone. As of 2020, studies on the use of adjunct d-cycloserine are inconclusive.
Specific phobia
Blood phobia
Driving phobia
Separation anxiety disorder
Generalized anxiety disorder
Social anxiety disorder
Agoraphobia
Body dysmorphic disorder