

Psychologists find a drug-free way for fears to be unlearned - alecco
http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.com/2009/12/psychologists-find-drug-free-way-for.html

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jimmybot
What is the difference between the reminder and the extinction training? The
reminder is the colored square but doesn't include the shock right? And the
extinction must use the same colored square or else it wouldn't work right?

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ars
I was wondering this as well.

I can only assume it means reminding them that they got a shock last time they
saw the square. But it doesn't totally make sense, since wouldn't you think of
that on your own?

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pbhjpbhj
The issue I'd have is whether this would carry over to real life fears. A
square being associated with an electric shock simply seems like a learned
response, not necessarily an actual fear - in this instances one knows the
shock is not harmful.

The example of doing a presentation for friends is surely missing the mark -
one can be fine giving the same presentation oto one group and scared silly
giving it to another. How would this work for something less controllable like
fear of heights, how does one expose oneself to a height that will not illicit
a fear response?

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ars
You are assuming a fear of heights is not a learned response. I think it is,
only you don't remember learning it, which makes it much harder to overcome.

> how does one expose oneself to a height that will not illicit a fear
> response?

The goal is to show that nothing bad happens at a great height. After a while
the fear will fade. It's simply not possible to stay permanently afraid while
nothing bad happens. (But it's rare that people are willing to subject
themself to that.)

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pbhjpbhj
I know that I'm in little danger at heights. Indeed in the past I've done
quite a lot of climbing and abseiling. I've overcome the fear in a way by
leading scouts up a climb or two. I most recently climbed with my son and did
my best to show as little fear as possible - unfortunately the inobservant (or
malicious?) instructor cornered me.

For me it seems that fear of heights and mild vertigo that ensues has grown
progressively worse as I've aged, I assume because I'm more aware of my
mortality.

It is not a case of knowing nothing bad happens - I'm still alive! The worst
I've had is cuts and bruises (and perhaps a bit of chaffing!). I get the
"ghoulies" even when playing video games when my character is at a height.

I simply can't imagine putting myself in a situation where I can recall being
fearful in this scenario but am currently not fearful; unless I'd already lost
the fear.

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ax0n
There's a pharmacophobia joke in here somewhere.

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rw140
I'm a bit bemused by this article - how is this different from existing
techniques used in phobia cures? It seems like a milder form of the immersion
/ desensitisation used in CBT.

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ars
Isn't this basically de-conditioning, AKA Extinction:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinction_(psychology)> \- what's new about
this?

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pbhjpbhj
You could read the article and find out - it's pretty clear.

 _Even though they'd all responded without fear at the end of the previous
day's extinction training, the majority of the participants - those who'd had
the 6-hour reminder before extinction, and those who'd had no reminder -
showed a renewed fear response (as betrayed by their sweatiness), just as
eventually tends to happen after extinction therapy in real life_

 _But excitingly, this was not so for the participants who'd had the ten-
minute reminder before the previous day's extinction trials! They were ice
calm, unmoved by the coloured square._

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ars
I did read the article. But I didn't quite catch the distinction. Thanks.

So basically, the extinction part is not new. It's the fact that if you remind
them of the fear right before, the extinction training is far more effective.

