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    Anxiety tagged posts

    Magnetic Fields to Alleviate Anxiety

    September 16, 2017, Categories  Biology/Biotechnology, Health/Medical

    People suffering from a fear of heights experience the anxiety also in virtual reality – even though they are aware that they are not really in a dangerous situation. Credit: VTPlus

    People suffering from a fear of heights experience the anxiety also in virtual reality – even though they are aware that they are not really in a dangerous situation. Credit: VTPlus

    It is possible to unlearn fears. And this works even better when a specific region of the brain has previously been stimulated magnetically. This has been shown by researchers from the Würzburg University Hospital in a new study. Nearly 1 in 7 Germans suffer from an anxiety disorder. Some panic upon boarding an aircraft, others find it impossible to enter a room with a spider on the wall and again others prefer the staircase over the elevator – even to get to the tenth floor – because riding in elevators elevates their heart rate.

    What sounds like funny anecdotes is often debilitating for the sufferers...

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    How the Brain Processes Emotions

    March 31, 2016, Categories  Biology/Biotechnology, Health/Medical

    Two neurons of the basolateral amygdala. MIT neuroscientists have found that these neurons play a key role in separating information about positive and negative experiences. Credit: Anna Beyeler and Praneeth Namburi

    Two neurons of the basolateral amygdala. MIT neuroscientists have found that these neurons play a key role in separating information about positive and negative experiences. Credit: Anna Beyeler and Praneeth Namburi

    A new study reveals how 2 populations of neurons contribute to the brain’s inability to correctly assign emotional associations to events, eg those who are depressed often do not feel happy even when experiencing something that they normally enjoy. Learning how this information is routed and misrouted could shed light on mental illnesses including depression, addiction, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder.

    In a previous study, Tye’s lab identified 2 populations of neurons involved in processing positive and negative emotions...

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    Being Anxious Could be Good for You—in a Crisis

    December 29, 2015, Categories  Biology/Biotechnology, Health/Medical

    Modulation of threat encoding by individual anxiety. (a) Left panel: correlation (Pearson) between state anxiety and the difference of the encoding parameter estimates between THREAT+ and THREAT− conditions in temporal electrodes at 280 ms. Right panel: encoding parameter estimates in temporal electrodes split into high and low anxious individuals for both THREAT+ and THREAT− conditions at 280 ms. T+: THREAT+, T-: THREAT-. (b) Left, correlation (Pearson) between state anxiety and the encoding parameter estimates in motor lateralization signals for THREAT+ condition at 200 ms. Right, encoding parameter estimates in motor lateralization signals split into high and low anxious individuals for both THREAT+ and THREAT− conditions at 200 ms. ***: p<0.001, *p<0.05. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.10274.010 - See more at: http://elifesciences.org/content/4/e10274#sthash.lORur2Lf.dpuf

    Modulation of threat encoding by individual anxiety. (a) Left panel: correlation (Pearson) between state anxiety and the difference of the encoding parameter estimates between THREAT+ and THREAT− conditions in temporal electrodes at 280 ms. Right panel: encoding parameter estimates in temporal electrodes split into high and low anxious individuals for both THREAT+ and THREAT− conditions at 280 ms. T+: THREAT+, T-: THREAT-. (b) Left, correlation (Pearson) between state anxiety and the encoding parameter estimates in motor lateralization signals for THREAT+ condition at 200 ms. Right, encoding parameter estimates in motor lateralization signals split into high and low anxious individuals for both THREAT+ and THREAT− conditions at 200 ms. ***: p<0.001, *p<0.05. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10...

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    Yin and Yang of Serotonin Neurons in Mood Regulation

    November 19, 2015, Categories  Biology/Biotechnology, Health/Medical

    Serotonergic neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) and median raphe nucleus (MRN) of the brainstem differentially modulate emotional behavior. Credit: Columbia University Department of Psychiatry

    Serotonergic neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) and median raphe nucleus (MRN) of the brainstem differentially modulate emotional behavior. Credit: Columbia University Department of Psychiatry

    More nuanced view of brainstem neurons could lead to better drugs for depression, anxiety. Low levels of serotonin in the brain are known to play a role in depression and anxiety, and it is customary to treat these disorders with medications that increase the amount of this neurotransmitter. However, a new study suggests that this approach may be too simple. It appears that neighboring serotonin-producing brainstem regions exert different and sometimes opposing effects on behavior.

    “Our study breaks with the simplistic view that ‘more is good and less is bad,’ when it comes to serotonin for mo...

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