Safety signal: a Simple tip for anxiety

Many people suffer in certain situations, under Anxiety, without any real danger. In about half of Affected effect of therapies or medication behavior, a large part can’t be helped but. Scientists have now found a new method that could anxiety get a grip.

U.S. researchers have found a novel way to combat Fears: The focus of a so-called safety signal that will never be associated with problematic events in connection stands. "A safety signal could be a piece of music, a Person, or an object such as a stuffed animal, the darstellt&quot the absence of a threat;, the psychologist, Dr. Paola Odriozola said.

This Signal relieves anxiety in a completely different way than the existing behavior therapy, the patient and the source of your fear, be suspended, until you have learned that spiders are not a threat and the fear subsides.

Researchers test safety signal in Mäusen

In mice, the researchers were able to demonstrate that safety signals and function: they let the mice have a "unbedrohlichen" Sound learning and a second, hanging with a menacing result. You the threatening tone was presented and then the non-threatening added as a safety signal, this reduced their fear. Prof. Dylan Gee explained the difference between the two methods: "Exposure-based therapy is based on extinction of fear. Although during treatment, a safety-memory, it competes with the previous threat memory. Through this competition, the risk of relapse &ndash is; but it certainly signals a threat to memory is never connected."

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