RESEARCH DESCRIPTION Chime Away Your FearsFor those who struggle with anxiety, e

RESEARCH DESCRIPTION
Chime Away Your FearsFor those who struggle with anxiety, every day can be a challenge and many seektherapy to overcome their fears! The therapists at NoMoreFearClinic in Australia havediscovered a new form of therapy called, Psychoacoustic Desensitization andReprocessing (PDR) that is just as effective as medication to help tune-out the negativethoughts associated with the fear.In one of their studies, 250 Caucasian adults between18-and 35-years of ageexperiencing phobias received PDR therapy sessions. The patients were asked to focuson a fearful situation or a thing, while the therapist plays a tone in their ears; meanwhilepatients were asked to describe their fear-provoking situation using single words (up to5 adjectives) that first came to their mind (e.g., lonely, dark). The therapist alternatedplaying the tone in the patients’ left and right ears at 30-second intervals. The processcontinues until patients no longer described their fear-causing situation using negativewords. Patients underwent a brain scan and also completed a self-report measureassessing their general anxiety and happiness before and after the PDR therapysession.The study found that longer PDR sessions caused patients to have lower anxiety, smilemore, and overcome their fear-provoking situation. Moreover, these patients haddecreased brain activity in regions associated with fear. The lead investigator, Dr. Chime explained, “The application of this rhythmic tone between the left and right ear is like aping-pong effect between the right and left hemispheres of the brain that ultimately flowsthrough the subconscious mind impacting our reptilian brain.”Dr. Chimeand his colleagues have reportedly replicated these findings at their clinic intwo different studies and hopeto publish their findings in the Journal of Science. Hedescribed, “Although the therapy can be exhaustive for the individual, it is imperativethat they finish the session because in the long run these longer PDR sessions causeanxiety levels to drop and change the brain-waves.”Although some researchers saythat Mindfulness-based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy(MCBT) is the more effective way to deal with anxiety and phobias, Dr. Chimeboastedthat his findings are “revolutionary” and prove that in just one session, PDR can curephobias and anxiety disorders!