A worrying report on the use of a nasal spray to treat severe phobias appeared in the media last week.  Dr. Adam Guastella, a psychology researcher at the University of New South Wales, Australia, claims that a combination of two chemicals – oxytocin (a naturally occurring hormone) and an antibiotic called D-cycloserine (DCS) can ‘greatly’ enhance treatments for phobias.  It is important to closely read what the Doctor says, because he is not claiming that these drugs administered by a nasal spray can ‘cure’ phobias, but that combined with behavioural treatments, they make some difference.  The difference they make is questionable, because in one study using the drugs combined with exposure therapy for individuals (he calls them patients) suffering from chronic shyness, the group who got the drug showed a ‘reduction’ in fear compared to those who got a placebo drug (no chemical qualities) and the exposure therapy.  What precisely the reduction was in not made clear. 

Students who started third level education this autumn are also facing the major challenge of having left home, a prospect that some students would have looked forward to and others would have viewed with fear and trepidation.  Preparing young people to manage their own welfare is a key parenting responsibility. Sons and daughters who have had the fortune to have been given the opportunities to develop self-reliance from their toddler years can really enjoy the adventure of leaving the nest and taking responsibility for themselves.  However, because many adults themselves find it a highly uncomfortable challenge to become self-reliant and to let go of the leaning on others, they are not in a solid place to encourage and support self-reliance in their children.

Wherever you are at the moment there is a house that bears your name. You are its sole owner but it is possible that a long time ago you lost the keys, forgot you are a property owner.  So you don’t occupy this house; you don’t reside there.  That house, the holder of your most deeply buried, repressed memories, is your body.  The walls of your body are your muscles which have registered everything.  In the tension and the stiffness, in the aches and weaknesses of the muscles of your neck, back, legs, arms, stomach, heart, face, sexual organs, your complete story is revealed, from the moment of conception to this very day.

Social phobia is common to all ages and can seriously block a person’s emotional, social and occupational progress.  Individuals who complain of this condition dread being the focus of attention and will do anything to avoid such situations.  Depending on the intensity of the phobia, even being with friends can be a threatening experience.  A high percentage of adolescents experience debilitating shyness, but as their identity formation develops, they tend to feel more confident and less threatened by social events. 

It continues to amuse me to read about the need for sex education for children and young people and to not read of the equally dire need for courses on sexuality for adults.  A recent survey found that most adults exhibit embarrassment and awkwardness around the subject of sex and that most schools are not implementing the department of education course on relationships and sexuality.  What is heartening in the survey’s findings is that young people very much want to know more about sexuality and sexual orientation.  However, the problem is that they find it too embarrassing to talk to their parents about it and teachers find it too embarrassing to talk to them about it.