Imagine one of your greatest fears. Now imagine it again. And again. And again.
After confronting the fear enough times in your head, your mind may stop reacting to it and you could find there’s not much fear left at all, according to a new study from researchers at University at Colorado and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York that was published in the journal Neuron.
The study found that imagining fears may be just as effective as exposure therapy as facing them head-on, according to a news release from CU.
“This research confirms that imagination is a neurological reality that can impact our brains and bodies in ways that matter for our well-being,” Tor Wager, director of the Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory at CU and a senior author on the study, said in a statement.
Clinicians are using the imagination more and more often as a tool to affect the brain, so the authors of the study say that more research into the area is necessary.
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