How do you get rid of that phobia? Watch someone else doing the very thing you’re terrified of

The Daily Mail:

Researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden claim that dealing with it in this way could be more effective than facing your fears through personal experience.  ‘Information about what is dangerous and safe in our environment is often transferred from other individuals through social forms of learning,’ said lead author Armita Golkar.

‘Our findings suggest that these social means of learning promote superior down-regulation of learned fear, as compared to the sole experiences of personal safety.’ Previous research has shown that other fears held by people in your social group could contribute to your own phobias.

This led Ms Golkar and colleagues to wonder whether it could also help to extinguish learned fears.

Read the whole story: The Daily Mail