FEAR !
1. Fears are not caused by one, big, scary event
If you have been attributing your fear of heights to that terrible fall you experienced when you were three, you might be surprised to find out you are probably wrong. Fears develop through a complex mix of genetics and environment. Though Pine does point out two factors found to put children at risk for developing anxiety. “One major factor is underlying temperament, the tendency of a child, early in life, to react emotionally to various types of stimuli, particularly novel and social stimuli. We know that a relatively small group of children are born with a temperament called ‘behavior inhibition.’ These children tend to react with fear when they confront novelty, particularly social novelty. A second factor is having a parent with either a mood or an anxiety disorder. This association between parental emotional problems and childhood anxiety likely involves both genetic and environmental factors.”
Stress hormones enhance fear extinction:A 2010 study examined how the stress hormone cortisol affected patients undergoing exposure therapy for a fear of heights (also known as acrophobia). The double-blind, placebo-controlled study administered cortisol or a placebo to patients an hour before exposure therapy. Subjects that received cortisol reported a greater reduction in fear of heights. Those subjects also showed significantly greater reduction in anxiety during treatment. It might seem strange for a stress hormone to ease fear but cortisol has been shown to enhance memory consolidation of new information in humans and animals, which helps in fear extinction during exposure therapy.
CONTRIBUTED BY:
HARI SHANJANA 8D
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