Fear (in all shapes and sizes) is one of the number one things getting in the way of people's willingness and ability to pursue their passions. There's a fascinating article at Science News Online on overcoming fears (they call it fear extinction).
Psychologists and neuroscientists, however, are making progress at understanding how to conquer fear. It's not a simple matter of erasing scary memories. Instead, it seems that people can learn to suppress a fright reaction by repeatedly confronting, in a safe manner, the fear-triggering memory or stimulus. For specific phobias, up to 90 percent of people can be cured through such exposure therapy, says David Barlow, director of Boston University's Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders.
When I read that, I immediately thought of one my favorite concepts - baby steps. Seems like that qualifies for a method of "confronting, in a safe manner, the fear-triggering memory or stimulus."
The article goes on to talk about research being done on fear extinction, how and where in the brain it works, and ways to help people overcome that fear (they're primarily talking about phobias, post-traumatic stress, etc.)
Hi there :-)
You have an excellent site. I'm enjoying reading along. Meanwhile, it seems this article you've referenced has gathered much interest.
What concerns me about it is that "science" has again resorted to "shocking".
If they weren't so afraid to venture out beyond their own field, they would have discovered that EMDR (eye movement desensitization reprocessing) has a 98% success rate with PTSD and does not involve any shocking or fear impressions.
Thought you might be interested in hearing about EMDR as it's truly baby steps, completely safe, and is tailored to each individual. :-)
Posted by: Carrie | January 25, 2004 at 03:34 PM