25/06/2010
Courage giving pill could be launched
by Hannah McLaverty-Williamson
A pill that gives those suffering from phobias courage could be launched, according to a story in the Daily Mail.
Israeli researchers studied the way the brain reacts to a fear of snakes, also known as ophidiophobia. During the study, volunteers both with and without the fear had their brain scanned as they watched either a cuddly toy bear or a live snake move past them on a conveyor belt.
Participants could touch a button which brought the bear or snake closer or moved it further away. The scan showed researchers the different patterns of brain activity, when the volunteers showed courage or succumbed to the fear.
The study showed that the region of the brain that helps process emotions known as the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, lit up when those suffering from ophidiophobia moved the snake towards them. Results showed that the bigger the fear of snakes, the greater the activity in the region.
Whilst to some the pill seems like a good idea, one would have to question how effective it would be as a long term phobia treatment.
Treatments such as hypnotherapy have proved to be a successful phobia cure. Clinical hypnotherapy is effective because it focuses on the underlying causes of the client's fear. Phobias are generally formed as a result of a fear produced by a threatening situation, which has been forgotten or repressed.
Phobias reside in the unconscious part of a person's mind and hypnotherapy treatment focuses on the retraining of the client's unconscious. During the therapy the hypnotherapist discovers exactly what it was that triggered the irrational fear, by determining the cause of the underlying problem, clients are then able to experience a more long term solution to managing their fear.
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