Cognitive-behavioral therapy is essential in all 3 types of phobias (e.g., agoraphobia, social phobia, specific phobia) associated with anxiety disorders. The key to treatment is exposure to the feared object or situation coupled with a reversing of the fearful expectations about the upcoming encounter. Such treatment may be enhanced by supportive therapy and/or medication. Treatment usually consists of systematic desensitization, flooding, and implosion; social skills training may also be required for those who are socially inept or inexperienced. People's fear and anxiety will begin to decline once they learn, from experience, that their phobia is unfounded. Cognitive-behavioral therapy for specific phobia is about helping people face what they fear rather than avoiding it. Although some patients may also take antidepressants, the therapy treatments described here do not require those medications.