An end to fear(ctivated still exhibited a strong startl...)

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Cognitive behavioural therapy is currently the prevailing and most effective method for treating anxiety disorders. During such a treatment the patient is exposed to the fear-eliciting stimulus without the feared consequence occurring. This method frequently only achieves short-term results and the fears often return over the course of time.

Interestingly, after the treatment with propranolol and memory reactivation, fear memories can no longer be recalled by means of a much-used method in which the individual pain stimuli are readministered. This indicates that the anxiety memory is either completely erased or could no longer be found in the memory. It should be noted, however, that the human volunteers could remember the association between the spider and the pain stimulus but that this no longer elicited any emotional response. In the next phase of the research, Kindt and her colleagues shall investigate the long-term effects of administering propranolol.

Treatment of anxiety disorders

The researchers expect that the results from this study can contribute to a new procedure for the treatment of patients with anxiety disorders. The method intervenes in the memory in a completely different way to conventional treatments. Whereas the traditional cognitive behavioural therapies frequently focus on the creation of new memories, this method focuses on the weakening of the existing emotional memory.

In 2007, Merel Kindt received a Vici grant from NWO for her innovative research. This study was carried out by Merel Kindt, Marieke Soeter and Bram Vervliet at the Universiteit van Amsterdam.

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