The strange case of a woman who felt no fear - Polidicks

[url=http://io9.com/5714254/the-strange-case-of-a-woman-who-felt-no-fear]Source[/url] [release][img]http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/2010/12/custom_1292528219378_scared-woman.jpg[/img] A woman with a rare disease that destroyed the fear center of her brain is completely unable to be scared or recognize when other people are afraid. Her story reveals why we need negative emotions, and could help PTSD sufferers. The 44-year-old woman, nicknamed "SM" to protect her privacy, has a condition known as Urbach–Wiethe disease, which has completely ravaged her amygdala. This small structure at the back of the brain plays a number of roles in coordinating emotional responses, and previous studies in animals have shown it's crucial to properly processing fear responses. The work with SM is the first time it's been conclusively proven that the amygdala regulates fear in humans as well. Earlier work with SM had shown she was unable to recognize facial cues that revealed when other people were scared, and now the latest research proves she is unable to experience fear. For three months, she carried around a computer that acted as an "emotion diary," which would randomly ask her to rate her fear levels at different times. She was also asked to list any other emotions she had from a list of fifty possible feelings. So, how often did she feel fear? [I]Zero percent of the time[/I]. At no point during those three months did she even feel the slightest twinge of fright. All her other emotional responses were normal. And SM hardly leads a carefree existence - she lives in a low-income, high-crime area where most people would experience frightening events once in a while. According to the researchers, she has been robbed at both knife point and gunpoint, nearly killed in a domestic assault, attacked by a woman twice her size, and on multiple occasions had her life threatened. All of these incidents have police reports backing up her account of events, and yet when asked to relate her emotional memories of these incidents she didn't ever report being afraid. She [I]did[/I] have other negative emotional responses - she was upset and angry, but not scared. This fact of her existence has both positives and negatives. The researchers actually suspect that part of the reason she has experienced such a litany of life-threatening events is that she is unable to recognize when she's entering dangerous situations in the first place. She can't be traumatized by these incidents, but she can still be physically hurt by them, and she seems to lack the ability to recognize cues that would keep her out of harm's way. Still, there are many who would would gladly give up their ability to feel fear, at least partially. Chief among them are soldiers and other crisis survivors suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, who are crippled by runaway fear. Researcher John Feinstein hopes his work with SM might help track down a way to help PTSD sufferers: [quote]"My hope is to expand on this work and search for psychotherapy treatments that selectively target and dampen down hyperactivity in the amygdala of patients with PTSD. Their lives are marred by fear, and they are oftentimes unable to even leave their home due to the ever-present feeling of danger."[/quote] It's a beguiling proposition, the idea that nothing could ever scare you, the guarantee that you will always be cool under pressure because you can't comprehend any reason not to be. Still, this is probably best read as a reminder that, no matter how undesirable negative emotions might sometimes feel, there's usually a very good reason that we get scared. [[url=http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822(10)01508-3]Current Biology[/url] via [url=http://www.livescience.com/health/woman-has-no-fear-ptsd-101216.html]LiveScience[/url]][/release] [I]"Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood."[/I] Marie Curie

lucky..

[QUOTE=scorpinat;26750856]lucky..[/QUOTE] You need fear to be able to know when you're doing dangerous stuff.

I wouldn't mind having this. Edit: Now that I think of it, I would mind

She'd be the ultimate explorer

[QUOTE=Eluveitie;26750872]You need fear to be able to know when you're doing dangerous stuff.[/QUOTE] I agree. Fear is a tremendous motivator, and keeps all your senses sharp. -snip-

Robot.

This sounds rad as hell.

I have PTSD so I'm pretty interested in the practical applications of this knowledge. Unfortunately, I have a feeling it'll probably be something to do with creating drugs that act on that section of the brain, rather than finding a therapy that works to regain control. This woman's situation is quite sad, but I hope she sees how much her problem could help a lot of other people who are suffering.

Guys, make sure you don't confuse lack of fear with absolute courage. Without fear there isn't any bravery.

[QUOTE=Ultra Violence;26750908]I have PTSD so I'm pretty interested in the practical applications of this knowledge. Unfortunately, I have a feeling it'll probably be something to do with creating drugs that act on that section of the brain, rather than finding a therapy that works to regain control. This woman's situation is quite sad, but I hope she sees how much her problem could help a lot of other people who are suffering.[/QUOTE] I have it too, shit sucks hard :respek: I hope its not drugs, Anti depressants for a year was enough

[QUOTE=Eluveitie;26750872]You need fear to be able to know when you're doing dangerous stuff.[/QUOTE] Common sense works too.

[QUOTE=Pretiacruento;26750927]Guys, make sure you don't confuse lack of fear fear with absolute courage. Without fear there isn't any bravery.[/QUOTE] "Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear." Mark Twain.

[QUOTE=DeathRocks;26750986]Common sense works too.[/QUOTE] Natural intuition works better, if you have to remember to check if you should be scared, that's just wasted time.

[QUOTE=DeathRocks;26750986]Common sense works too.[/QUOTE] Common sense is emotional. If you have no fear then suddenly walking down a dark alleyway alone doesn't seem like such a bad idea. It's the fact that we are scared to do it and that fear is the strongest human emotion and most scarring that we learn not to do that shit. Without fear you no longer have a "sixth sense" to danger. Everything seems safe to you. [editline]17th December 2010[/editline] [QUOTE=sloppy_joes;26751006]Natural intuition works better, if you have to remember to check if you should be scared, that's just wasted time.[/QUOTE] We have emotions and instincts for a reason. They are tools, probably our most valuable tools for survival and success.

Fear keeps you alive. Would never give it up. ...actually, I wouldn't give anything emotional-based up, it's there for a reason.

why are you all so scared of the idea? :smug:

[QUOTE=yawmwen;26751021]Common sense is emotional[/QUOTE] Common sense is logical analysis, not emotion. [editline]17th December 2010[/editline] Ever had an emotional breakdown? You don't feel [b]shit[/b] through that.

[QUOTE=yawmwen;26751021] We have emotions and instincts for a reason. They are tools, probably our most valuable tools for survival and success.[/QUOTE] She has a problem with a structure that controls emotions and you say she should rely on her emotions. :rolleyes:

Quoted from the Source for being relevant: [quote]You know, there was a psychiatric drug called [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MDMA][B]MDMA[/B][/url] back in the 70s and 80s used to very effectively treat PTSD in Vietnam vets. It stimulated other portions of the brain, resulting in a relative drop in activity in the amygdala, during which time the patient could remember and process otherwise-traumatic incidents free from the emotional effects. The medical results were a group of patients able to recover and rationally deal with war, rape, and other traumatic emotional situations in their past without having to re-live them completely. Unfortunately, outside of therapeutic sessions involving traumatic memories, the drug also created a high sense of euphoria, synesthesia, and physical energy. In non-clinical uses, it was basically the perfect party drug, and eventually became referred to as [I]"Ecstacy."[/I] In response to moral entrepreneurship on the part of America's mothers, MDMA was banned for both recreational and psychiatric use (on the argument that most Ecstasy was stolen from or sold by medical professionals). Of course, by the time it had been banned in 1985 as a Schedule I narcotic, more MDMA had been synthesized for private recreational use than had ever been ordered by psychiatrists. Essentially, due to the American impulse to professionally and privately ban any substance if it looks the least bit recreational, medicine has lost access to the single most effective resource for treating PTSD.[/quote] Ever tried Ecstasy before, Ultra Violence? :science: [editline]17th December 2010[/editline] [QUOTE=yawmwen;26751003]"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear." Mark Twain.[/QUOTE] Well played, sir. :golfclap:

[QUOTE=sloppy_joes;26751006]Natural intuition works better, if you have to remember to check if you should be scared, that's just wasted time.[/QUOTE] Natural intuition uses things like fear to work properly. It's automatic, you don't have to "remember to check if you should be scared"

[QUOTE=Zeke129;26751244]Natural intuition uses things like fear to work properly. It's automatic, you don't have to "remember to check if you should be scared"[/QUOTE] For this woman, she does. He's saying common sense would say her and that she doesn't need to feel fear, which is untrue.

[QUOTE=Qontrol;26751100]Common sense is logical analysis, not emotion. [editline]17th December 2010[/editline] Ever had an emotional breakdown? You don't feel [b]shit[/b] through that.[/QUOTE] Yea i can contest to this

Finally someone who can play through amnesia

What good is fear in the first place? If none of us felt no fear when a bee came flying around us and we'd just go like "FUCKING MOTHERFUCKING BEE FUCK I WILL EAT YOUUU!" and you crush the bee and you ignore the little sting and you destroy it with your teeth, wouldn't the world be a better place, for us anyway?

She's a Space Marine.

[QUOTE=Pretiacruento;26750884]I agree. Fear is a tremendous motivator, and keeps all your senses sharp. To be honest, I've actually successed supressing most of my fear instinct, by watching gore and horror movies to the point I hardly feel any fear.[/QUOTE] Oh wow haha you watch gore movies to build up some fear-factor in you? When you stumble across a real, mutilated, gory, bloody body, you will fear a lot more than you do when you watch a "scary" movie, I couldn't even imagine how I'd feel if I ever came across a dead body like that. We'll see. :p

I want that Because I can't play Amnesia normally :ohdear:

"There is nothing to fear but fear itself" - Francis Bacon. Or even better: "Courage is the mastery, not the absense, of fear". Fear is a good thing when controlled.

[QUOTE=Bat-shit;26752193]What good is fear in the first place? If none of us felt no fear when a bee came flying around us and we'd just go like "FUCKING MOTHERFUCKING BEE FUCK I WILL EAT YOUUU!" and you crush the bee and you ignore the little sting and you destroy it with your teeth, wouldn't the world be a better place, for us anyway?[/QUOTE] No, because then wars would be more common and crime rates would skyrocket.