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Confronting your worst fear—without escape—is the single most powerful path to breaking the grip of a phobia.

A 100% cure eliminates fear entirely; a 200% cure transforms the feared thing into something you love doing.

When forced to face your fears, many discover the monster has no teeth.

I never intended or wanted to become a doctor. It was at the very bottom of my list of possible careers.

In fact, I only went to medical school because an advisor at Amherst College told me to go, telling me psychiatrists were medical doctors, and only medical doctors could prescribe medications, which would become increasingly important in future years. So, I talked my way into Stanford, in spite of the fact that I hadn’t been a pre-med student.

My sophomore year, our lab instructor announced that today we'd be practicing drawing blood from each other’s arms and started handing out tourniquets, alcohol wipes, and needles. I’d struggled with many fears and phobias growing up, including a blood phobia. When I realized what was about to happen in our lab, I thought, “I’m out of here!” I walked out of the classroom, went straight to the dean's office, and announced that I was dropping out of medical school.

He talked me into a year’s leave of absence instead. I bought a motorcycle from a friend and had what turned out to be a fantastic year at the height of the hippie era. I took time to learn the ways of the world on the streets of Palo Alto. It was one of the most exciting times of my life!

At the end of the year, I eventually decided to go back and finish medical........

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