Hi Everyone!
Just found this today on the internet. Thought everyone would be excited. Read all the way through (part about panic disorder near bottom) Hugs, Susan
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Pill may be the answer to phobias
December 1, 2003
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A pill that helps conquer fear could soon be a reality, it was revealed today.
Researchers in the US have found that a drug normally used to treat tuberculosis can be used to combat phobias.
A pilot study showed that acrophobics - people terrified of heights - overcome their fear far more quickly when given the drug.
The pill does not work on its own, but appears to help phobics confront what is scaring them and learn to cope with it.
So-called "exposure therapy" is the standard treatment for phobias, and involves exposing people to whatever it is they are afraid of. A person who cannot stand spiders, for instance, will be shown pictures of the creatures and then gradually introduced to larger and hairier real specimens.
The TB pill seems to speed up this process, according to Dr Michael Davis at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia.
His study involved 30 acrophobic individuals, 10 of whom were given a dummy drug while the rest received either a small or a standard dose of D-cycloserine.
The patients were then exposed to their fear by being placed in simulated glass lifts that appeared to go up and down.
"As the elevator went higher, they became more and more anxious," said Dr Davis. "But those taking D-cycloserine learned much more quickly to overcome their fear, in two sessions rather than the usual eight."
He said the small 50mg dose was as effective as the 500mg normally given to people with TB.
Dr Davis believes the drug should work in almost any situation where a person is nervous.
"It should help you get over whatever it is you are afraid of, as long as you face up to your fear," he told Chemistry and Industry magazine.
Theoretically the drug could be used to treat any kind of fear problem, including post-traumatic stress and obsessive compulsive disorder.
A new study of people with a fear of public speaking is about to start, said Dr Davis.
Meanwhile, psychiatrist Professor Michael Otto from Harvard Medical School, is so impressed with the drug results he is planning a study looking at panic disorder.
"These results are very exciting," he said. "They represent a new direction for combining medication and cognitive-behavioural approaches to psychotherapy."
D-cycloserine appears to affect a particular protein in the amygdala - an almond-shaped region of the brain linked to emotion and control of fear.
Previous studies have shown that the amygdala helps us deal with perceived threats.
British expert Dr Gillian Butler, consultant clinical psychologist at Warneford Hospital, Oxford, said: "If we can understand how brain chemistry links with behaviour and learning and memory, we are going to be in a better position to help people," she said.
"It's a field in which we can expect a large number of developments this century."
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