Say goodbye to fear of snakes and other phobias thanks to the new pill that gives courage

No fears: A snake such as this python will no longer prove scary for those with phobias thanks to the new drug

A pill that gives cowards courage could be in the pipeline after scientists pinpointed a brain region key in overcoming fear.
The drug that activates these brain cells could help people face their phobias, from spiders to heights and public speaking.
Israeli researchers looked at how the brain reacts to ophidiophobia - or fear of snakes.
Volunteers with and without a fear of snakes had their brains scanned as they watched either a cuddly toy bear or a live snake move past them on a conveyer belt.
A touch of a button brought the bear and snake closer - or moved them further away.
The scans showed up different patterns of brain activity when volunteers succumbed to fear and when they displayed courage by deliberately overcoming it.
A region called the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, which helps us process to emotions, lit up when those who were scared of snakes exhibited bravely by moving the snake closer to them.
And the bigger their fear of snakes, the greater the activity in the region, the journal Neuron reports.
Researcher Dr Yadin Dudai, of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, said the results shone a light on the basis of courage.
They also 'point to the possibility of manipulating subgenual anterior cingulate cortex activity in therapeutic intervention in disorders involving a failure to overcome fear.'
Previous research has shown that the stress hormone cortisol can make the difference between being a hero or a coward.
Those who rise to the challenge do not experience the cortisol rush of those who fall to pieces when the going gets tough.
When US psychiatrists subjected soldiers to concentration camp simulations and other extremely stressful situations they found that those who remained calm made less cortisol.
They also made more neuropeptide Y, a compound that counteracts the effects of cortisol.
The work has caught the eye of the US military, who believe it could be used to create the perfect soldier.
Using the right cocktail of supplements, steroids and mind exercises, it might be possible to turn run-of-the-mill recruits into heroes.
An estimated 16million Britons suffer phobias, ranging from fear of spiders to fear of the colour yellow or the number 13.
Current treatments involve therapies such as cognitive behavioural treatment, in which sufferers are made to confront their phobia.
For example someone with arachnophobia could first be made just to say the word 'spider'.
Then they would progress to looking at pictures of spiders and, eventually, actually touching one.
Anti-depressant drugs and tranquilisers such as Valium can also be given to ease anxiety.