A Fear Less Fearful
What if a phobic response could be eradicated by simply repositioning the impact of the original memory in the context of behavior therapy? OK, since that didn’t clear things up let’s take the time to explain.
Behavior therapy is a tool often used to help phobic individuals see that in a safe environment their fear may be unjustified or more ably faced. This can lessen the fear in some, but what if a few shifts in direction could eliminate the fear altogether? Researchers at New York University believe they now know the secret of fear removal.
Secrets Exposed
In virtually all behavior therapy there has been an emphasis on medication to assist in the planned objectives related to fear reduction. New research indicates it is possible to eliminate both fear and drugs when dealing with phobias. The secret is – timing.
According to the Indendent.co.uk, “Scientists have selectively blocked thoughts of fear by interfering with the way memories are ‘reconsolidated’ by the brain. It could lead to new ways of treating the thousands of people whose lives are crippled by fear and anxiety relating to phobias and memories that go back many years.”
The National Institute on Mental Health funded the study which, “suggests that it may be possible to permanently eradicate an overwhelming fear by relatively simple behavioural therapy.”
An Intervention
In most behavioral therapy the individual is asked to acclimate themselves to the object of their fear by repeated, yet safe, reintroductions. This new research indicates that dialogue that can alter how the negative associations are refiled in the fear cabinets of our mind are essential within minutes of a safe reintroduction. In other words once the fear stimulus is introduced the therapist would then take the time to help the phobic individual file their original fearful association in a new part of the brain that will not view the stimulus as a thing to be feared any longer.
Does it Work?
The Independent.co.uk reports, “A year after the experiments, 19 of the volunteers took part in further tests. Those who had received training more than six hours after the fear memory was revived still showed signs of fear … a year later. Those who had been trained within the time window showed no signs of fear – indicating that the fear memory had been eradicated.”
Imagine what it would be like to face your fear for the last time? Not just to face it, but to leave its impact behind you today, tomorrow and for the rest of your life?
Studies are ongoing, but the result may be that therapists can help you consolidate and store fear memories away as simply a footnote to a past event. Fear may no longer be justified in light of safe and non-medical behavioral treatments that may be able to remove the fear and replace it with a renewed interest in life.
The mind has an incredible way of storing and digesting fearful experiences. If those events can be challenged at the height of emotional investment it may be possible to force the fear to take a back seat to the life experiences you’ve always wanted.
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