A review and meta-analysis of the heritability of specific phobia subtypes and corresponding fears

Abstract

General rightsIt is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulationsIf you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: http://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. Download date: 11 May 2018A review and meta-analysis of the heritability of specific phobia subtypes and corresponding fears Highlights• Data on the genetic liability of fears and specific phobias are scarce.• Heritability estimates of fears and specific phobias fall within a range of 0%-71%.• The category of blood-injury-injection fears and phobias have the highest heritability estimates.• Phenotypic variance can mostly be explained by additive genetic and unique environmental effects. AbstractEvidence from twin studies suggests that genetic factors contribute to the risk of developing a fear or a phobia. The aim of the present study was to review the current literature regarding twin studies describing the genetic basis of specific phobias and their corresponding fears. The analysis included five twin studies on fears and ten twin studies on specific phobias. Heritability estimates of fear subtypes and specific phobia subtypes both varied widely, even within the subtypes. A meta-analysis performed on the twin study results indicated that fears and specific phobias are moderately heritable. The highest heritability (± SEM) among fear subtypes was found for animal fear (0.45±0.004), and among specific phobias for the blood-injury-injection phobia (0.33±0.06). For most phenotypes, variance could be explained solely by additive genetic and unique environmental effects. Given the dearth of independent data on the heritability of specific phobias and fears, additional research is needed.

Initial and sustained brain responses to threat anticipation in blood-injection-injury phobia

“…Only female participants were included since BII phobia is most common in young women (Miloyan and Eaton, 2016, Wani and Ara, 2014) and the majority of studies in specific phobia investigated female samples (for review see Del Casale et al, 2012, Ipser et al, 2013, Van Houtem et al, 2013), which makes the current study more comparable to other studies, especially to the anticipation study by Straube et al (2007). Participants were recruited by public advertisement and received monetary reimbursement (10 €) or course credit for participation.…”

The Scientific Legacy of Little Hans and Little Albert: Future Directions for Research on Specific Phobias in Youth

“…A recent review and meta-analysis including 10 twin studies conducted in adult populations revealed mean heritability estimates of 32% (range ¼ 22-44%) for animal phobias, 25% (range ¼ 0-33%) for situational=environmental phobias, and 33% (range ¼ 28-63%) for blood-injection-injury phobias (Van Houtem et al, 2013). Unfortunately, however, few studies have employed a twin design to examine the genetic liability to specific phobias in children and adolescents.…”

One session treatment for pediatric blood-injection-injury phobia: A controlled multiple baseline trial

“…Given that anxiety disorders tend to run in families, and this may especially be the case for BII phobia (Van Houtem et al, 2013), parents were actively involved in the education session, at the end of their child's OST, and during all e-therapy maintenance sessions. At the conclusion of the OST, children and parents briefly reviewed progress made during the session and were reminded to schedule exposure tasks at home to continue progress and prevent relapse.…”

“…Moreover, they may avoid certain career paths (e.g., nursing, medicine), travel for fear of receiving necessary vaccinations, and becoming pregnant ( € Ost, Hellstr€ om, & Kåver, 1992). BII is thought to be distinct from the other phobia types in that it is associated with a stronger genetic vulnerability (Van Houtem et al, 2013) and a unique physiological (e.g., fainting) and emotional response (e.g., disgust; Olatunji, Cisler, McKay, & Phillips, 2010).…”