TB Drug Can Help Kids To Fight Phobias, Study

You have been afraid of spiders, dogs or just flying when you were a child. Research shows that all your phobias can be defeated with an antibiotic drug that treats tuberculosis, according to abcnet.

Scientists at Macquarie University used the drug D-cycloserine for 35 children between 6 and 14 years. It had an ingredient that helped to reinforce learning, and was given along with exposure therapy, in which patients were faced with their phobias gradually so that they could overcome them.

One week's exposure showed that the children with phobias of spiders and dogs could cope with their dread better.

The results will be published in the journal Depression and Anxiety.

Researcher Simon Byrne said while the drugs has been used earlier for teenagers and adults, it was the first time children were involved.

"The vast majority of the children in our study had improved and the good majority would be diagnosed as free at the end of the study," he said.

Five years ago, Shanaya Perera, 15, was scared of spiders, but after treatment she seems to have recovered. "I remember I used to help my mum in the garden and I'd be all right, but then I'd come across a spider," she said. "Then I'd be really tense and looking around for spiders everywhere. Now if I see a spider I'm fine with them - they don't bother me, it's all good."

The latest study by Dr Michael Davis and colleagues at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia, suggests that improvements can be achieved faster, according to bbc.

Patients of common phobias such as heights, small spaces and flying could all be helped, he said.

While most people suffer from fears, the ten most common ones include fears of open spaces, social situations and snakes. Macquarie University Centre for Emotional Health director Professor Ron Rapee said phobias were a form of anxiety problem.

"Phobias, like a lot of different anxiety-type problems, can really affect people's lives quite broadly and dramatically,'' he said. "Other times there are a lot of people ... who have phobias that we live with on a daily basis and they may not affect our lives quite as much."

Using drugs to treat phobias is a new but emerging field, according to him. "This study is exciting because it shows for the first time that we can combine a physical treatment, which is a very simple and widely used medication, with a psychological treatment in such a way that they enhance each other," he said. "That hasn't been shown before."