Train Your Brain to Fight Fear

Are you shy or afraid to fly? Does your attention wander, or do you beat yourself up every time you make a mistake? There are no miracle cures for any of these conditions, but you can retrain your brain to make them less of a problem in your life.

CBS News correspondent Tracy Smith reports for the Early Show's three-part series, "Train Your Brain."

The mean streets of Manhattan are crowded, busy, and hostile, but it's the perfect place to help someone get over being shy. Listen carefully. "Hey, everybody, it's 4:04 . . . ," shouts Leslie, a therapist who is demonstrating shame-risk therapy on the street. "Hey everybody, it's 4:05 . . . , Hey everybody it's 4:08 . . ."

Dr. Robert Reiner, the administrative director of Behavioral Associates, a private psychotherapy institute in Manhattan, and a faculty member of the New York University Medical Center, says that it is one way he helps shy people beat their fears permanently.

"It allows people to experience what they're afraid of, and they change the way they think about themselves so they can tell themselves, 'You know, I can get through this.'"

Reiner has ways to get people through a number of other phobias, too. "We teach people how to relax, and then we let them experience the quote 'phobic situation,'" says Reiner. "It's called counterconditioning and it generalizes into real life.

One of the most common real-life phobias is fear of flying. "The success rate with fear of flying is 93% with virtual reality," says Reiner. To conquer fear, you first have to feel it, says Reiner, or at least trick your body into feeling it.

Then, you get a virtual reality helmet to simulate the look and feel of an airline flight. In coach class, no less. Even the seat moves. The system picks up even the tiniest bit of anxiety: Reiner did the test on Tracy. "For the most part, I was cool--until the good doctor simulated a thunderstorm--complete with lightning," says Tracy, and the monitor shows the anxiety level climbing.

After experiencing the fear, it was time to learn how to cope with it. It starts with proper breathing. This is only one method--but the results are the same: Train your brain to be calm in the face of your fears--and your body will follow.

"Acting relaxed at a skeletal level--you see, even if you're feeling anxious we encourage people to allow their muscles to behave as if they're relaxed. That does help," says Reiner.

So--with knowledge and a little practice, Reiner says you can train your brain to face any fear, anywhere from the friendly skies to the mean streets. "You have to experience what it is you're afraid of, reminding yourself that, 'I can do this,'" says Reiner.

All you really need is the will, and a little time. Reiner says it takes practice and often professional help to train your brain to conquer fear, but it can work.
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