A common therapy currently for trauma and phobias is called exposure treatment. It involves repetitive exposure in a nonthreatening way to help patients confront their fears and gradually weaken the fear response, a process known as extinction. But with extinction, the fearful memories don't disappear or get altered, and relapse is common, says Edna Foa, an expert on post-traumatic stress disorder at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. If extinction could be enhanced, that could mean more efficient treatment with less relapse, she says.

暴露療法是目前很普遍的一種治療精神創(chuàng)傷及恐懼癥的方法。具體做法是，以不會(huì)產(chǎn)生傷害的方式讓患者多次暴露于引起恐懼的刺激，讓他們直面自己的恐懼，從而循序漸進(jìn)地弱化他們的恐懼反應(yīng)，這一過(guò)程被稱(chēng)為“恐懼記憶退化”。賓夕法尼亞大學(xué)醫(yī)學(xué)院創(chuàng)傷后心理紊亂研究專(zhuān)家弗阿（Edna Foa）說(shuō)，其實(shí)，在恐懼記憶消除過(guò)程中，可怕的記憶并沒(méi)有完全消失或者改變，經(jīng)常會(huì)有復(fù)發(fā)的情況。她說(shuō)，如果恐懼記憶消除得到強(qiáng)化，那么治療就會(huì)更有效，復(fù)發(fā)情況就會(huì)減少。