Reference Reviews

Doug’s Student Reference Room

Phobias, edited by Tom Metcalf and Gena Metcalf. 135 pp. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press. ISBN 13: 978-0-7377-4027-1. $34.95.

If the cover of this book gives you the shivers, you may suffer from arachnophobia. But if you experience laliophobia—a fear of speaking—you may not want to talk about it. While the treatment of the topic in this volume is serious, many of the photos—a creepy tarantula on the cover, a close-up of a rattlesnake's head, a black cat with peering yellow eyes and even a still of Jimmy Stewart from Hitchcock's Vertigo—are just plain fun. This title is organized like the others in the Greenhaven Press Perspectives on Diseases and Disorders series, providing definitions, descriptions, causes, symptoms and approaches to treatment in the disease or. first section, more detailed accounts of treatment in the section and stories of lives affected by the disease or disorder in the last section. In this volume, the introduction and first chapter offer detailed explanations of the biological basis of fear, drawing distinctions between this healthy response to a real danger and phobias, which interfere with the ability to carry on in everyday life. Excellent graphics illustrate the role of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI's) and the way different aspects of the brain control fear and other biological and psychological concepts. The middle section's discussion of treatments, including hypnosis, neurolinguistic programming and even virtual reality techniques, touches on both traditional and experimental therapies. The personal stories open with an anonymous account an agoraphobic who thankfully recognizes the need to seek help; the other stories help raise awareness of the range of phobias and the toll they take on people. This volume does a good job reaching its intended audience of middle and high school students, who find the topic of phobias endlessly fascinating. Highly recommended for middle school and high school libraries.
—Doug Achterman