Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for Treatment of Dental Phobia

Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) has gained in popularity as an effective treatment for anxiety disorders. The purpose of this article is to determine the applicability of VRET in the treatment of dental phobia of two patients. Two case examples of female dental patients, aged 56 and 24 years, who met the criteria for dental phobia according to the Phobia Checklist, illustrate the use of VRET in the dental setting. VRET that is used as a psychological treatment for dental fear and dental phobia can potentially be given by a non-specialist (for example dental assistant), thereby making it a cost-effective therapy for the treatment of dental phobia. CPD/Clinical Relevance: This article is the first of its kind to demonstrate Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) in the treatment of dental anxiety

Nietzsche's money

Although Nietzsche rarely features in discussions of money, he offered important insights into such matters as the relationship between the money economy and the permanent decadence of modernity, money’s impact on social hierarchy and individualism and the moral economy of debt. His remarks on these themes are closely connected to two of his best known, but controversial, ideas: the eternal return and the Übermensch. In this paper, I explore how Nietzsche’s arguments, and these two concepts in particular, have been taken up by three thinkers who have made distinctive and original contributions to the sociological and philosophical understanding of money, credit and debt: Georg Simmel in The Philosophy of Money (1907), Walter Benjamin in ‘Capitalism as Religion’ (1921), and Norman Brown in Life Against Death (1959). Nietzsche’s ideas fulfil a pivotal role in each of these treatments of money: in particular, he informs Simmel’s exploration of the relationship between money, individualism and socialism; Benjamin’s examination of the ‘guilt history’ of modern capitalism and its moral economy of debt; and, finally, Brown’s explorations of the roots and consequences of our neurotic money complex. Each of these thinkers puts a different complexion on Nietzsche’s own thoughts regarding money, as well as his broader philosophy. Nevertheless, he provides all three thinkers with a sharply critical perspective on the idea that money’s expansion in the modern world reflects the individual’s liberation from traditional social ties and ancient moral bonds

Anomalous perception in synaesthesia: A cognitive neuroscience perspective

An enduring question in cognitive neuroscience is how the physical properties of the world are represented in the brain to yield conscious perception. In most people, a particular physical stimulus gives rise to a unitary, unimodal perceptual experience. So, light energy leads to the sensation of seeing, whereas sound waves produce the experience of hearing. However, for individuals with the rare phenomenon of synaesthesia, specific physical stimuli consistently induce more than one perceptual experience. For example, hearing particular sounds might induce vivid experiences of colour, taste or odour, as might the sight of visual symbols, such as letters or digits. Here we review the latest findings on synaesthesia, and consider its possible genetic, neural and cognitive bases. We also propose a neurocognitive framework for understanding such anomalous perceptual experiences