Learn about the role of the cerebral amygdala in anxiety disorders

The cerebral amygdala has a direct relationship with anxiety disorders. This is a fact that has been known for a long time. Now, in addition to this fact, there is another fact as curious as it is striking. Neuroscientists have discovered that there are people with a larger amygdala; which increases the risk of suffering from mood disorders.

Is it perhaps something coincidental? Can one be born with this neurological disorder? Research is showing us that, in reality, this particularity is mainly due to a very specific factor. It is none other than suffering from a complicated childhood subjected to constant stress, whether due to abuse, physical abandonment or emotional neglect.

That is to say, Our previous experiences and their quality shape brain architecture. Furthermore, it does so in a very unique way: if we suffer stress in childhood, all that neurobiology related to what is known as the “fear network” is altered.

Let’s delve into this topic below.

The cerebral amygdala and its relationship with anxiety, what does it consist of?

We all experience anxiety throughout our lives and, sometimes, with great intensity. Realities, such as facing a job interview, an opposition or holding a conference, test us and place us in that territory where fear, uncertainty or anguish arises about what will happen and if we will do it well.

These experiences, no matter how complex they may seem to us, are completely normal. Now, what is not so bad anymore is suffering constant anguish.

Sometimes there is no specific trigger. one permanently feels a sense of threat that you cannot explain and that alters your entire reality, both physically and psychologically. This anxiety is pathological and acts like a poison that reduces health and human potential.

Phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder… There are many psychological conditions mediated by anxiety that are limiting. Hence For decades, neuroscientists have wondered what happens in our brain and what structures orchestrate it in these situations. so adverse.

Let’s see what the studies tell us.

The “network of fear” and a small protagonist: the cerebral amygdala

Anxiety is not the result of the activity of a single brain structure; In reality, it is the result of a complex “conversation” of several different brain regionsconfiguring what is known as the fear network. We know, the name alone is scary.

To understand it better, we will start by explaining something very simple: our brain is both emotional and rational. It has some very ancient areas that articulate and dominate all those processes linked to our sensations, emotions and feelings. Likewise, our cerebral cortex and specifically, the frontal areas control cognitive and more reflective processes.

Good, When someone experiences an anxiety disorder, their brain is dominated by the fear network.that is, the brain is “hijacked” by a series of structures that limit its most logical and reflective thinking.

Even more, the person who orchestrates this control is the cerebral amygdala. This is in fact a fact that we have known since the 90s, thanks to a study carried out at Yale University by Dr. Michael Davies.

We know that The human brain amygdala is capable of ultra-rapidly extracting information about what surrounds us.detecting risks and threats (without the need for them to be real or not). Soon, it activates the feeling of fear to encourage flight or defense. Later, That feeling of fear and alert also reaches the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (located in the frontal lobe). What this structure does is amplify the feeling of fear and block the most rational thoughts, because what now dominates the brain is emotion, it is anguish. And what he wants is for us to react.

Alterations in the amygdala due to a stressful childhood

It was in 2013 when Stanford University made a great discovery. Dr. Vinod Menon, professor of psychiatry, discovered through MRIs that There were people who had a much larger brain amygdala than average. Likewise, these people also had other factors that correlated with each other.

The first was that Many of them suffered from anxiety disorders.. The second was that they had gone through a traumatic or at least stressful childhood due to factors such as abandonment, emotional neglect, etc.

There is hyperactivity, that is, The cerebral amygdala is more sensitive and there are greater problems when it comes to regulating fear, anguish, anxiety, feeling of threat, etc. Now, Dr. Menon insists on one fact: going through a difficult childhood is not a direct cause of experiencing mood disorders in adulthood. There is, yes, a risk, a greater probability.

Knowing this, science is focusing on regulating the activity of the brain’s amygdala. Something like this could give us new and valuable tools to treat anxiety, a condition that, as we well know, is very present today. We will therefore be awaiting further progress.

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