Phobias are common, increasingly prevalent, often associated with serious role impairment, and usually go untreated. Focused research is needed to investigate barriers to help seeking.

SynopsisThe long-term relationships between various forms of childhood adversity and adult episodes of major depression are explored in a representative household survey of the United States adult (age 25 +) population. Seven of the eight childhood adversities considered are significantly associated with recent (12-month) episodes of depression. These effects are largely indirect consequences of some childhood adversities leading to a life history of depression and prior depression leading to new episodes. Only three of the eight childhood adversities directly affect recent onset or recurrence. The paper closes with a discussion of implications for future research on the long-term effects of childhood adversities.

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1We present a strategy for using longitudinal survey data to identify life history pathways linked with mental health outcomes. The central aim is to begin with richly detailed descriptions of individual lives and, from them, to discern generalizable features of aggregates of multiple lives. Conceptual principles guiding the organization and interpretation of life history information are summarized. Data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS) are used to illustrate the specific steps for analyzing life histories of "resilient" women (those with a history of depression who report high levels of current wellbeing). The steps begin with writing narratives of individual life histories, which are then reviewed for commonalities, and subsequently thinned to more generic descriptions. The process culminates with tests of distinguishability, contrasting the "resilient" with three other mental health groups. Illustrating the constructive tensions between idiographic and nomothetic analyses, our approach documents multiple life pathways to resilience. The methodology also underscores the delicate interplay between activities of the mind and machine in facilitating scientific discovery.

Unpredictable and uncontrollable events that threaten or result in physical harm influence agoraphobia onset. Potentially predictable but difficult to control childhood experiences (e.g., chronic parental violence) influence specific phobia onset. Blame is a likely mediator of the effect of sexual abuse on social phobia. No data on perceptions of predictability and controllability of life experiences, or of blame, were available for analysis. These conclusions are therefore based on speculations about social psychological processes that have been supported by previous research and theory.

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Number of specific fears may mark a general predisposition to psychopathology. More detailed information is needed to resolve the question of specific phobia subtypes.