Children seem particularly prone to fear, so much so that fear has been seen as a normal part of childhood development. It is documented in the research into childhood fear that during infancy children tend to fear stimuli within their immediate environment such as loud noise, objects and separation from a caretaker, but that as the child matures these fears adjust to incorporate anticipatory events and abstract stimuli (Campbell, 1986). Recent work has indicated that general fearfulness decreases as age increases and that this decrease continues at a fairly rapid rate until the beginning of adolescence (Gullone & King, 1997). Mild fears in children often appear and disappear spontaneously and follow a predictable course. For example, Bauer (1976) reported that younger children (4–8 years old) typically fear ghosts and animals whilst older children (10–12 years) are more likely to fear self-injury. These short-lived fears are part of a normal pattern of development, frequently have an obvious adaptive significance, and reflect the everyday experiences of the child. These normative fears are at their highest during the first 11–14 years of life but then stabilize, leaving only pervasive fears and phobias (Draper & James, 1985; Gullone & King, 1997). A phobia is a fear that is out of proportion to the demands of the situation that evokes it, it cannot be rationalized, is involuntary, and leads to avoidance of the situation (Marks, 1969).