Language functions: discussing issues; reading comprehension; talking about fear/phobia

Vocabulary / Topic area: fear, anxiety, phobia

ANTI-PHOBIA SPRAY
TEACH ER WO RKSH EET – L EVEL: IN TERMEDIA TE

focus on talki ng
ACTIVITY 1 PAIRS (explain the words students
do not understand paying special attention to
the ones inbold)
In pairs, answer the questions
from the questionnaire.

Questionnaire
source: www.healthyplace.com

PANIC ATTACKS

• Do you experience sudden episodes of intense and overwhelming fear that seem to
come on for no apparent reason?

• During these episodes, do you experience any symptoms similar to the following? Racing
heart, chest pain, difficulty breathing, choking sensation, light-headedness,
tingling or numbness?

GENERALIZED ANXIETY

• Do you worry about a number of events or activities (such as work or school

performance)?

• Is it difficult to control the worry?

• Do you also have two or more of these symptoms? Feeling restless or on edge, being
easily fatigued, having difficulty concentrating, feeling irritable, muscle
tension, having difficulty falling or staying asleep, or restless unsatisfying
sleep?

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POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER

• Have you experienced or witnessed a frightening, traumatic event, either recently or

in the past?

• Do you continue to have distressing recollections or dreams of the event?

• Do you become anxious when you face anything that reminds you of that traumatic
event?

• Do you have any of the following symptoms: difficulty falling or staying asleep,
irritability or outbursts of anger, difficulty concentrating, feeling “on guard”,
easily startled?

OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER

• Do you have recurring thoughts or images (other than the worries of everyday life)
that feel intrusive and make you anxious?

• On occasion, do you know that these thoughts or images are unreasonable or excessive?

• Do you engage in any repetitive behaviors (like hand washing, ordering, or

checking) or mental acts (like praying, counting, or repeating words silently) in order to
end these intrusive thoughts or images?

SOCIAL & OTHER PHOBIAS

• Are you afraid of one or more social or

performance situations: speaking up, taking a
test, eating, writing or working in public,
being the centre of attention, asking
someone for a date?

• Are you afraid of one specific object or

situation, such as heights, storms, water,
animals, elevators, closed-in spaces, receiving
an injection, or seeing blood?

• Are you afraid of flying a commercial

airliner

• Do you get anxious and worried if you try to

participate in those situations?

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readi ng
ACTIVITY 2 INDIVIDUALLY
Read the text below and find out answers to these questions:

1. What exactly can the spray do? It can help people overcome their irrational fears.
2. What does the spray contain? Hormone – oxytocin and antibiotic –DSC.
3. What is exposure therapy and what is its deficiency? Its benefits fall away over time.
4. What is the new use for oxytocin that Dr Guastella is currently researching? Helping couples to
repair deteriorating relationships.

Sniff this: nasal spray helps phobias vanish

SCIENTISTS are offering hope to millions of people afflicted by chronic phobias after finding that simple
nasal sprays may help overcome irrational fears.
The sprays have been shown to ease people’s fear of heights, spiders and even chronic shyness, one of the
most crippling phobias.
The discovery could turn out to be a breakthrough in the treatment of chronic fearfulness, which afflicts
hundreds of thousands of people in Britain.
Well-known phobias include conditions such as agoraphobia, (fear of open spaces), claustrophobia (fear
of enclosed spaces) and fear of flying.
“These conditions can be crippling,” said Dr Adam Guastella, a psychology researcher at the University of
New South Wales, Australia, who led the research. “Our research shows that the treatments for phobias
can be greatly enhanced using compounds that make the brain more receptive.”
Guastella’s research has focused on two chemicals – oxytocin, a naturally occurring hormone long known
to play a role in human emotions, and D-cycloserine (DCS), an antibiotic used against tuberculosis that
has been found to have subtle effects on the brain. Both can be delivered by nasal spray.
Exposure therapy, in which phobics are confronted with the things that terrify them, is a standard
treatment but its benefits often fall away over time.
In his latest research, Guastella used DCS combined with exposure therapy to treat 23 patients suffering
from chronic shyness. He asked the patients to make a speech – normally a terrifying task for people with
such a condition. A second group of 23, who were also asked to make speeches, were given a placebo.
Guastella said: “These people were so shy they could not enter a crowded room or speak in public.
However, those who received DCS showed a great reduction in fear and also reported lasting
improvement in work and social relationships.”
Guastella has also used oxytocin to treat people with social phobias and DCS to treat arachnophobes –
people with a fear of spiders.
He is now researching a new use for oxytocin: helping couples to repair relationships that have
deteriorated.

Jonathan Leake, Science Editor

Source: The Sunday Times, October 21, 2007

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focus on vocabula ry
ACTIVITY 3
Find these words and expressions in the article.

1. (of a problem or illness) cause pain or suffering to;

affect or trouble- afflict

2. succeed in dealing with (a problem or difficulty) -

overcome

3. not logical or reasonable - irrational

4. (of an illness) persisting for a long time or constantly recurring- chronic

5. causing sever and disabling damage to someone or something - crippling

6. a sudden, dramatic, and important discovery or development, esp. in science- breakthrough

7. intensify, increase, or further improve the quality, value, or extent of- enhance

8. a substance formed from two or more elements chemically united in fixed proportions-
compound

9. able or willing to receive something, e.g. signals - receptive

10. decrease over time – fall away over time

11. a substance that has no therapeutic effect, used as a control in testing new drugs - placebo

12. become worse - deteriorate

focus on talking
ACTIVITY 4
Discuss the question below.

• Do you believe that a nasal spray can overcome a phobia?

• What other scientific breakthroughs do you expect in the near future?

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