Treating Phobia by a New Emotional Regulation Method (Tipi)

Between 2003 and 2006, the investigators conducted an exploratory, prospective and comparative research study, taking each person as their own control, to evaluate the benefits of the type of emotional regulation developed by the Tipi association on a population suffering from phobias.

• Participants Phobias can be categorized by type, as defined in the DSM IV, the standard reference during the study period (American Psychiatriy Association, 2000) : agoraphobias, social phobias, specific situational phobias (claustrophobia, transport phobia), phobias linked to the natural environment (heights, water, fire), to animals (spiders, snakes, amphibians, tentacled shellfish) and other types of specific phobias (fear of physical contact, being dirtied, contaminated, vomiting), phobia of blood - injections - medical techniques - accidents.

The investigators aim to conduct a prior and systematic verification with each person to confirm that their fears were phobias as defined in the DSM IV (American Psychiatriy Association, 2000). The phobia must be diagnosed by a doctor or psychiatrist. Each people must provide a medical certificate that evidenced the diagnosis in writing.

All people must read an information form on "Understanding your emotions" All participants must have suffered from their phobias for a long time. They have to describe their treatment.

Everybody in the study population have to provide a short-written report on the effects of the session(s) 1 week, 1 month, 3 months and 12 months after the session.

• Intervention (see below)
• Follow-up During the one-year follow-up period, the patient was requested to send a written self-assessment of his situation and the change and/or disappearance of his phobia. If the investigators didn't receive the person's assessment, the investigators followed-up with a mail and a phone call.

Inclusion criteria

• Adult: 18-90 years old
• Adult People with phobic fear in the DSM IV classification
• Phobic people: agoraphobia, with or without panic associated, social phobias and specific phobias. Diagnosis of phobias must be established by the medical world during consultations and explorations. This is systematically checked with the patient to see if the fears come under a phobia as defined in the DSM IV, reference at the time in 2006 (ref DSM IV). The list of phobias classified by type is as follows: animal type or insects; natural environment type (phobias storms, height, water ...); blood type - injection - accident (phobia of seeing blood or an accident or having an injection or any other invasive medical procedure); situational type (fear of specific situations such as public transport, tunnels, bridges, elevators, air travel, driving a car or enclosed areas); another type: afraid to choke, to vomit or contract an illness, fear of falling, and fears about loud noises or disguised characters.
• People accepting regular follow-up until one year after the first session.

Exclusion criteria

Subject unable to read or/and write