Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Neuroscience: Hacking the brain to overcome fear

Confronting fears is a core component of cognitive behavioural therapies for anxiety disorders, but also a major hurdle for patients. A new study introduces a method for reducing defensive responses without consciously confronting the threatening cues, paving the way for fear-reducing therapies via unconscious processing.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Purchase on Springer Link

Instant access to full article PDF

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. McLean, C. P. & Foa, E. B. Expert Rev. Neurother. 11, 1151–1163 (2011).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Koizumi, A. et al. Nat. Hum. Behav. 1, 0006 (2016).

  3. Amano, K., Shibata, K., Kawato, M., Sasaki, Y. & Watanabe, T. Curr. Biol. 26, 1861–1866 (2016).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Johansen, J. P., Cain, C. K., Ostroff, L. E. & LeDoux, J. E. Cell 147, 509–524 (2011).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Quirk, G. J. & Mueller, D. Neuropsychopharmacology 33, 56–72 (2008).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Schiller, D., Kanen, J. W., LeDoux, J. E., Monfils, M. H. & Phelps, E. A. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 110, 20040–20045 (2013).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Weinberger, J., Siegel, P., Siefert, C. & Drwal, J. Conscious Cogn. 20, 173–180 (2011).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. LeDoux, J. E. & Pine, D. S. Am. J. Psychiat. 173, 1083–1093 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniela Schiller.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Schiller, D. Neuroscience: Hacking the brain to overcome fear. Nat Hum Behav 1, 0010 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-016-0010

Download citation

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-016-0010

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing