Nationalgeographic.com reports that Denis Pare of Rutgers University and his team of really smart people have uncovered the cluster of cells in the brains amygdala called ITC neurons that aide in fear production and control. This discovery may have a profound effect on your anxiety disorder.
The research conducted at Rutgers has revealed that cells in the brain called ITC neurons are critical for fear management. The researchers pointed out that controlling these cells would not zap fear, but rather control fear and the context in which it is experienced. Much of this was proven using lab mice.
Now the unpleasant part of the experiment involved putting mice in a cage that had an electrified floor. The mice were then subjected to a loud sound just before they were jolted with electricity. After a while the mice became conditioned to fear the sound so that when the sound was made they would freeze in their tracks. Later the scientist also played the sound but with out the shock. This was done so that the mice would remember that hearing the sound was not always bad.
The next day the scientist used an unspecified drug to target the ITC neurons in the brain in half of the mice. The scientist let a week pass then started the second phase of the experiment. This involved separating the two sets of mice and playing the scary sound for both groups to monitor their reaction. The mice with intact ITC neurons acted like everything was fine, while the other set of mice froze whenever they heard the sound as they anticipated the shock. Luckily these little guys were not shocked anymore, but remained afraid nonetheless. So who cares?
Well the care comes in the form of hope for new drugs that will target ITC cells in the brain that some think will deal a death blow to anxiety disorders and related phobias. Scientist believe that by turning up the effect of the ITC neurons people could “tamp down their expression of fear”. It would almost be like turning off the fear switch in the brain. This study shows that the amygdala plays a significant role in fear production and so drug developers now have a clear target.
Are new drugs good news? This is a point you could debate until your face turns blue, but I will say that anything that is safe and can help people to manage and or cure their anxiety is always good news.
Reading the articles helps me but just at the moment when im reading… But after my anxiety is back again i hate it coz i really wanna go home to my home land but i am so scared now from flying 🙁