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The Role of the Amygdala in
Agoraphobia and Panic Disorder
by Stephen Price
There has been a recent focus
on the amygdala when it comes to explaining the cause of
agoraphobia and panic disorder. There have also been some
"new" treatment programs for agoraphobia on the market that are aimed at
interrupting a certain
function of the amygdala.
So what is this thing called
the amygdala and is it really important to recovery from agoraphobia
and panic disorder?
The amygdala is a small structure located deep inside the
brain of both humans and animals. It plays a significant
role in panic disorder and agoraphobia because it houses the
body's fear response (or the "fight or flight" response -
read
Anatomy of a Panic Attack for more details).
Neuroscientists tell us that when the body is confronted by
a perceived threat, danger signals are sent to two places in
the brain:
1) The cerebral cortex
2) The amygdala
The cerebral cortex houses cognitive functions of the brain.
The signal sent to the cerebral cortex is sent in the form
of information about the threat. The information about the
perceived threat is analyzed cognitively in the cerebral
cortex. In other words, this is the part of the brain you
use to think conscious thoughts.
The amygdala, which houses the
fear response, is more involuntary. When danger signals are
sent to the amygdala, it sets off the "fight or flight"
response to prepare the body to respond to the threat. It
does this without you having to even think.
Two factors make the amygdala powerful in causing panic
attacks:
1) The amygdala creates
indelible (permanent) memories and associations, or so
neuroscientists believe.
2) The amygdala activates the
fear response faster than the cerebral cortex can analyze the
information about the perceived threat.
The implications of agoraphobia research so far on the amygdala is
that therapies for panic disorders and agoraphobia are
needed that offer the sufferer ways to gain cognitive
control over the fear response activated by the amygdala.
If you can train yourself to interrupt the amygdala's
fear response with cognitions (thoughts), then you are on
your way to short circuiting panic attacks and overcoming
agoraphobia and panic disorder.
But so far, the research on the amygdala has not led to any
sure-fire quick fix for agoraphobia or panic disorder
(though some may make this claim).
Cognitive therapy is nothing new. It has been on
the market for agoraphobia for a long time. Plenty of research has shown
various forms of cognitive therapy to be effective for
agoraphobia, but it
takes hard work and discipline to use successfully. And new
forms of cognitive therapy that are more effective at
interrupting the fear response from the amygdala may need to
be developed.
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