Fears, phobias, and rituals

Most of this book concerns fear and anxiety induced by identifiable cues. Because they are so phobialike, taste aversions, fainting at the sight of blood, and obsessive-compulsive syndromes are included even though they may be accompanied by the experience of nausea or distaste rather than of fear. The book excludes general stress and syndromes in which ''free-floating'' anxiety or spontaneous panic predominate despite their partial overlap with some forms of phobic and obsessive-compulsive disorders.