The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance – What Women Should Know

by Katty Kay

Researchers at Northwestern University documented remarkable changes in the brain’s physical makeup after a short session of behavioral therapy aimed at patients battling a fear of spiders. They studied twelve adults with arachnophobia. Before therapy, the brain scans showed the regions involved in fear, especially the amygdala, had much stronger responses to spider photos. They then had a single two-hour session of behavioral therapy. In this case, the therapy involved approaching and then touching a live tarantula. (Talk about facing your fears. It’s like asking someone with a fear of public speaking to practice with a podium and an audience.) When they repeated the brain scans at the end of the treatment, the amygdala’s action was back to normal. But the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for reappraisal and for looking at things more rationally, was more active. And here’s what’s most impressive—when the subjects’ brains were scanned again six months later, the amygdala was still quiet. After just a two-hour session. Six months later, they were still able to calmly touch that tarantula.