Courage in a pill bottle
Is there finally a cure for those who take counsel of their fears. The article suggest that the research has the potential to create the perfect warrior. As long as they are helping people achieve grace under pressure, it is worthwhile. I assume it is not intended to make them irrational.A pill that gives cowards courage could be in the pipeline.
Scientists have pinpointed an area of the brain that is vital in overcoming fear.
A drug that activates these brain cells could help people face their phobias, from spiders to heights to public speaking.
...Researcher Dr Yadin Dudai, of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, said the results had shone a light on the basis of courage.
They also ‘point to the possibility of manipulating subgenual anterior cingulate cortex activity in therapeutic intervention in disorders involving a failure to overcome fear’.
Previous research has shown that the stress hormone cortisol can make the difference between being a hero or a coward.
Those who rise to the challenge do not experience the cortisol rush of those who fall to pieces when the going gets tough.
When U.S. psychiatrists subjected soldiers to concentration camp simulations and other extremely stressful situations they found that those who remained calm made less cortisol.
They also made more neuropeptide Y, a compound that counteracts the effects of cortisol.
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