You know the feeling when you’re scared of an upcoming deadline or worried about people finding out what you’ve done? Slowly, anxiety starts to creep in while the tension builds. Well, that’s fear! It’s like an alarm that goes off when the brain thinks you are in danger.
So, how does it work?
Scientists use ‘fear conditioning’ to understand the underlying mechanism. Let’s say a small electric shock is given to your finger whenever you hear a bell. Even if the shock stops, hearing the bell can make you feel scared or anxious.
What guides such a behavior?
There are two main types of cells: excitatory neurons and inhibitory neurons. Excitatory neurons help to encode memories of scary experiences by becoming active in response to fearful stimuli, just like ‘Chhatur’ from 3 Idiots. Memorizes everything without understanding the reasoning. On the other hand, inhibitory neurons ‘Rancho’ help regulate the intensity of the fear response by inhibiting the activity of excitatory neurons ‘Raju Rastogi.’ So, inhibitory neurons help to fine-tune the fear response by modulating the timing and duration of response in fear-related brain circuits. Else, ‘dhan’ would become ‘sthan’ and ‘chamtkaari’ ~ ‘balatkaari’.
(For science geeks, excitatory neurons include pyramidal neurons in the amygdala and granule cells in the hippocampus. Inhibitory neurons include parvalbumin and somatostatin-expressing interneurons.)
Sometimes, if our wiring short circuits, it can lead to problems like being scared all the time, even when there’s no real danger. This can even lead to severe conditions like PTSD or phobias. Phobias can be broadly dissected into three categories. First, a specific phobia is when someone is terrified of one particular thing, like heights, spiders, or even going outside. Then comes non-experiential phobia. Imagine you’re playing a game, and suddenly, a spooky sound comes on. If you get scared just because of the sound, even though nothing terrible happened to you before. But if you’re scared of something because of a scary experience you had, like being bitten by a dog, that’s an experiential phobia.
What can be done?
Remember the fear conditioning example? Scientists use another concept called ‘extinction’ to tackle such conditioned stimuli. In this method, if you are repeatedly presented with a feared condition but in the absence of any aversive outcome, such as an electric shock, the fear response decreases over repeated trials. So, “darr k aage Jeet hai!” at least on paper or animals being tested in idle conditions. Interestingly, the concept of extinction extends beyond the laboratory. Why do you think your public speaking skills get better with each presentation, and you get comfortable over time answering whatever the interviewer might throw at you?
Lastly, as per Peter Grinspoon, a primary care physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, low doses of THC (one derived from the GREEN) are well-tolerated, and they release shots of dopamine (the feel-good hormone). In contrast, higher doses of THC can be counterproductive, causing people to feel anxious. All I am saying is, know your sweet point!
References-
1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5580526/
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8640988/
3. https://bpspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1476-5381.2010.01175.x
4. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/05/03/weed-anxiety-cannabis/
grewal 