New findings on how the brain processes stressful stimuli may lead to new treatments for anxiety disorders
Making neurons responsive to light may lead the way to everything from erasing painful memories to restoring vision
Out of nowhere, something like an ocean crashes on top of you, burying you in the deep. Your sudden impossible depth, the smothering weight, means your next gasp will be your last. Your brain screams of death’s imminence. While the clock at your bedside, or in your car, or on your workplace computer shows time ticking faithfully by, that initial…
New research offers fascinating clues to a commonly asked question among PTSD researchers and survivors
By Tara Brach, Ph.D. Most of us spend a lot of our lives tensed up in fear, or pushing against fear. The fear might be fear of: Something going wrong Not being good enough Not being loved Losing something or someone we hold dear What fears do you live with? The key to being with fear is in contacting what is here now,…
Fifteen years ago I decided to start meditating. An astute friend at the time likened me to a gerbil racing on a wheel in a cage: I was always rushing between work, power yoga, business dinners, and parties. You could find no trace of a sofa or a comfy chair in my little studio apartment in downtown Manhattan—I kid you…
How would your life change if you could have what ABC News reports as “an orgasm for the brain?” Let’s set the stage. Think back to a time when you experienced pleasure from the feeling of being touched (nonsexually). Maybe it was your back or your forehead or the nape of your neck. Or perhaps you were receiving a shave,…
We know that stress—especially of the traumatic variety—can affect the shape and function of structures in the brain. For example, studies on survivors with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) reveal that the amygdala (the almond-shaped threat and danger detection center of the brain) can actually enlarge in the presence of an ongoing, unmitigated survival response. Conversely, the hippocampus (a horseshoe-shaped entity…
