Administering the hormone glucocorticoid reduces phobic fear, according to an article published in the March 27 early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Swiss and German researchers led by Lelia M. Soravia, Ph.D., Institute of Psychology, University of Zurich, Switzerland, investigated whether the administration of glucocorticoids, which are released by the body in stressful situations, could reduce phobic fear. Researchers conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled study in 40 subjects with social phobia and a double-blind, placebo-controlled study in 20 subjects with spider phobia.
In the social phobia study, researches found that 25 milligrams of cortisone administered orally one hour before a socioevaluative stressor (public speaking) significantly reduced subjects’ self-reported fear during the anticipation, exposure and recovery phase of the public speaking event. Moreover, the stress-induced release of cortisol in the placebo-treated subjects correlated negatively with fear ratings, suggesting that endogenously released cortisol in a phobic situation buffers fear symptoms.
In the spider phobia study, repeated oral administration of 10 mg of cortisol one hour before exposure to a photograph of a spider six times over a two-week period resulted in a progressive reduction of stimulus-induced fear. This effect was maintained when subjects were exposed to the stimulus again two days after the final administration of cortisol, suggesting that cortisol also may have facilitated the extinction of phobic fear. Cortisol treatment did not, however, reduce general anxiety unrelated to phobia.
Researchers concluded that while the findings for two distinct types of phobias indicate that glucocorticoid administration reduces phobic fear, more research is needed before this treatment can be used in a clinical setting.
