Abolition of lifelong specific phobia: a novel therapeutic consequence of left mesial temporal lobectomy.

Numerous imaging studies have confirmed the amygdala as prominent within a neural network mediating specific phobia, including arachnophobia. We report the case of a patient in whom arachnophobia was abolished after left temporal mesial lobectomy, with unchanged fear responses to other stimuli. The phenomenon of abolition of specific phobia after amygdala removal has not, to our knowledge, been previously reported.