Jonathan Haverkampf

The neurotransmitter serotonin plays a key role in both the onset and in the unlearning of fear and anxiety. A research team has been investigating the underlying mechanisms. The researchers showed that mice lacking a specific serotonin receptor unlearn fear much faster than the wild type. The results of the study provide a viable explanation how drugs that are typically used for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) alter our brain activity. The ability to unlearn fear is often impaired in PTSD patients, making it more difficult to carry out therapies.

Women who experience postpartum mood disorders including PTSD, depression, and anxiety two to three years after giving birth had irregular immune system responses, researchers report.

Beginners who took piano lessons for one hour a week over the course of 11 weeks showed improvements in audio and visual processing. Additionally, musical training helped to boost mood and reduce symptoms of stress and anxiety.

A link has been found between joint hypermobility and the emergence of depression and anxiety in adolescence, according to a new study. Researchers found that young people with joint hypermobility were more likely to have depression and anxiety, and that psychiatric symptoms were also more severe among hypermobile participants.

Exposure therapy contends that many children with anxiety would be helped by following an old and simple dictum: Face your fears.