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November 11, 2003
Pill Helps Cure Phobias
Can you banish your deepest fear by popping a pill? A recent report suggests that you soon may be able to.
In a study reported to the Society for Neuroscience, a team led by Michael Davis of the Emory University School of Medicine reported that a tuberculosis drug, D-cycloserine (Seromycin), helped people terrified of heights get over that fear.
The study offered D-cycloserine or dummy pills to 27 subjects on virtual reality (VR) therapy - using computerized goggles to simulate going up a glass elevator - to help unlearn their acrophobia.
At the end of two VR sessions, the 10 patients who had gotten placebos did slightly better than they had at the start. But the 17 on the drug did as well as or better than people who had finished the full course of eight VR sessions.
Furthermore, those who had taken the drug were twice as likely as their counterparts to go up elevators, drive across high bridges and do other things that acrophobia had kept them from doing.
Posted by Sam in Health & Medicine