Psychologists find a drug-free way for fears to be unlearned | Hacker News Reader

Psychologists find a drug-free way for fears to be unlearned

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47 pointsalecco10 comments

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?

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?

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?

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.)

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.

There's a pharmacophobia joke in here somewhere.

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.

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

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.

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.

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