Although a number of treatment methods are available to help people get rid of arachnophobia, the method put forward by a new study seems more promising.

Arachnophobia is the fear of spiders and other arachnids, such as scorpions. People fearing spiders tend to feel uneasy in the areas where spiders could potentially be present or in cases they see a web hanging around the corner of a wall.

A new study conducted by researchers at the Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Amsterdam suggests that people can easily overcome the fear of spiders – but only in their presence. According to the researchers, a 2-minute exposure to spiders combined with a single dose of a regular pharmacological treatment can instantly help reduce the fear successfully.

The new treatment is based on the idea of s“reconsolidation,” first identified nearly 15 years ago. Reconsolidation means that once memories are activated, they can modified in fundamental ways to either weaken or strengthen them, reports News Medical.

For the study, researchers Marieke Soeter and Merel Kindt recruited 45 people with the fear of spiders. Following a brief exposure to a tarantula, the participants were either administered a single dose of propranolol or a placebo. Propranolol is a beta blocker used for the treatment of heart conditions and hypertension.

The researchers found that those who received propranolol showed a reduction in their fear of spiders and the approach behaviour was drastically increased. The effect remained pronounced for the next one year.

"Here we show for the first time that an amnesic drug given in conjunction with memory reactivation transformed avoidance behaviour to approach behaviour in people with a real-life spider fear. The new treatment is more like surgery than therapy," said Kindt, in a statement.

The complete details of the study have been published in the journal Biological Psychiatry.

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