New Hope For Anxiety Disorders

Dutch researchers have found a way to help patients suffering from pathological anxiety disorders.

They found that using a beta blocker called propanolol can erase the fear response induced by painful memories.

Exactly how long this erasure lasts is not yet known; however, researchers feel that the study is a step in the right direction. The study lasted 3 days. On the first day, subjects learned to associate images of spiders with a mild electrical shock that cemented a physiological response with a fear cue. The next day, subjects were given either a dose of propanolol or a placebo before memory recall was induced. By day 3, the effect of the beta blocker was clear: those who took propranolol did not experience any physiological response to the spider images; those who took the placebo did.

It's as though the memory of fear has been erased from the first group, but not from the second.

Even though the study is in its preliminary stage, ramifications from the research could mean new hope for those suffering from anxiety disorders!