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New research shows that generalised fear is caused by a chemical switch deep in the brain — which can be switched on and off
Can fear get stuck in the brain?
Well kind of — and this research published a few weeks ago explores this and has discovered the precise mechanism of this. Pretty important (very important actually!) but it has not been generally reported on I note.
What we are talking about is fear activation in the absence of any tangible threats such as is common in PTSD. It can also be considered a generalised fear.
Isn’t this the result of conditioning i.e. associating certain stimuli with fear?
That was one assumption and I reported on interesting research into those with susceptibility to PTSD last year. But this generalised fear is not the same as conditioning because it is not related to a trigger but rather a persistent underlying level of fear or anxiety.
Ok, so as you said the brain seems to get stuck in fear — so what is happening?
Hui-quan Li and colleagues of the University of California investigated the neural circuitry of fear in mice and ended up zooming in on a region in the brain stem called the…
