Psychological intervention in civilian flying phobia. Evaluation and a three-year follow-up.

Thirty-eight people with a moderate to severe degree of aerophobia self-referred themselves to a course designed to help them travel by air. The course involved three long sessions based on giving information, graded exposure without avoidance, and group support with natural coping models. Measures of self-reported anxiety levels were taken at regular intervals. The results showed that being given information or undergoing a simulated flight had little effect on perceived anxiety. Prolonged exposure to flying had a marked effect on reducing anxiety and anticipated apprehension about future flying. At one-year and three-year follow-up, 40% and 60% of participants had flown commercially, although there was some minor restoration of anticipated anxiety associated with flying; 84% showed less anxiety about flying. Psychological intervention, in collaboration with airlines, may have marked benefits in reducing fear of flying.

Vasopressin and memory: improvement in normal short-term recall and reduction of alcohol-induced amnesia.

The vasopressin analogue 1-desamino-8-D-arginine vasopressin (DDAVP) has been shown in healthy male volunteers to cause significant improvement in short-term memory and to reduce alcohol-induced amnesia. There was no significant effect upon semantic retrieval or simple reaction time. It was concluded that vasopressin benefited the initial processes of consolidation and learning, while the reduction of the amnesic effects of alcohol may support the contentions of other authors that the peptide improves memory in states of mild amnesia.

Prolactin and stress: some endocrine correlates of pre-operative anxiety.

An attempt was made to correlate the serum concentration of PRL, GH and cortisol with anxiety experienced before elective surgery. A significant direct correlation was observed between cortisol and anxiety (P = 0.028), and between GH and anxiety (P = 0.001) although the latter correlation may have reflected the confounding effects of sex and age on GH levels. No correlation was observed between anxiety and PRL and we conclude that psychosocial stress cannot be invoked as an occasional cause of hyperprolactinaemia.

Prevention of effects of alcohol intoxication by naloxone.

In a double-blind, cross-over study of twenty male volunteers intravenous injection of 0.4 mg naloxone prevented the impairment of psychomotor performance induced by low levels of blood alcohol. The possibility that alcohol produces intoxication by stimulating the release of endogenous opioid peptides should be investigated.