To overcome his phobia of spiders, forcing yourself to watch them for longer and longer would be effective, according to a study.
Look his fear in the face to better tame it. This is the advice given by researchers to arachnophobes to help them overcome their phobia. A scientifically proven technique, the results of which have been published in the journal Current Biology.
“Exposure therapy” consists of gradually teaching phobics to look at the object of their terror, eye to eye. Not easy, when at the sight of a spider, they start to turn of the eye, but very effective.
10 minutes of exposure
To achieve this, the authors showed photos of spiders to people with specific phobia, an anxiety disorder that manifests as intense and irrational fear, triggered at the sight of the arachnid. They started with an exposure time of 10 minutes, which they increased as the experience progressed.
In parallel, the authors observed the brain activity of the subjects thanks to the MRI, by fixing their attention on the amygdala of the subjects. This area of the brain controls the emotional response. However, the activity of this area is considerably reduced with prolonged exposure. Proof, according to the authors, that the more a patient is confronted with the object of his phobia, the less he shows a negative reaction and the more he controls his fears.
Researchers believe that an improved version of exposure therapy would overcome the most entrenched phobias. “This manipulation clearly affects the activity of the brain and therefore behavior,” specify the authors. A simple modification of existing treatments could improve the effects of techniques that we already know and prevent relapses ”.
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