Benefiting at work from Brain Based Insights

There you are ... invited to give a talk to win the deal of your career... and instead of enjoying the benefits that will likely follow… fear of flying fights you like a lion after its kill…. Does that describe you…?

Dr. Michael Kahan… director of the phobia clinic at Hillside helps people with fears or phobias by replacing inaccurate and anxious thoughts with more precise and calm information….

I was interested to learn that fear can be eliminated or diminished through strategies such as deep-breathing which calm a person…. What methods have you found helpful to replace fear with courage to get the job done…?  When the brain replaces stress chemicals such as cortisol… with calm chemicals such as serotonin… for instance… you set the stage for less fear and more calm.

The key is to simulate the situation in a safe setting…. For instance … Dr. Kahan uses a virtual reality program, or "exposure therapy,"  to help people who… say… fear flying…. It’s simply a way to reduce anxiety….  The “flight simulation computer program is a strategy created by Dr. Larry Hodges of Georgia Tech and Dr. Barbara Rothbaum of Emory University . People who fear flying sit in an airline seat with a headset covering their eyes and ears… for simulated sights and sounds from a plane…. It’s quite real… turn your head to look at the scene out the window and you see it move and change as the flight progresses.  Listen to sounds of takeoff, turbulence, landing and hear the voice of a flight attendant. Your seat even vibrates with the engines.  Can you think of any fear you have seen or experienced that could be eliminated by what you choose to do in a safe environment the way Dr. Kahan takes people on simulated plane rides to overcome fear of flying…?