This is when the amygdala can be detrimental as these traumas will be especially difficult to overcome, due to it being a highly emotional memory.
Individuals who have experienced emotional trauma may also find that their trauma can affect other cognitive functions as a result, due to the amygdala being connected to many other regions of the brain. Fear memories are thought to be embedded within the neuronal connections of the amygdala. The amygdala is the most important part of the limbic system for many emotions, including aggression.
The reactivity of the amygdala is a good predictor of aggression. Groves and Schlesinger , found that surgical removal of the amygdala reduces aggression in previously violent individuals. In animal studies, stimulation of the amygdala produces aggressive behavior. Removal of the amygdala from monkeys, rats and humans reduces aggression. Many neuroimaging studies have investigated the structural and functional connectivity of the amygdala.
Sexual orientation has suggested to be linked to structural differences in the amygdala. Homosexual males tend to show patterns in their amygdala alike to those of heterosexual females.
Likewise, homosexual females tend to show patterns alike to heterosexual men and have more widespread right amygdala connections Swaab, A variety of research has shown that the amygdala, especially on the left side, are associated with mental health conditions such as social anxiety , obsessive compulsive disorder OCD , generalized anxiety disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder Arehart-Treichel, Also, those who have more neural pathways from their amygdala to their prefrontal cortex are more likely to experience nervousness and anxiety as these pathways allow the frontal cortex to be flooded with more alerts of threat from their amygdala.
Individuals who are diagnosed with depression have been shown to have over hyperactivity in their left amygdala, especially when interpreting emotions from faces, mainly fearful faces Sheline et al. Similar findings were discovered in another study with those who had PTSD. When they were shown pictures of faces with fearful expressions, their amygdalae tended to display high activation Carlson, In terms of addiction, the basolateral amygdala has shown involvement in people relapsing when it comes to drugs.
Particularly, the amygdala integrates the influences of stress on drug-related memory Wang et al. The amygdala has also shown to be influential when it comes to internet addiction. If there are damages or differences with amygdala structure and function, one may experience one or more of the following symptoms:. Through psychotherapy it is possible to facilitate down-regulation of the stress response system and encourage the development of new patterns of neural activation.
Hence it is vital to enable change through the provision of a safe environment in which the individual can experience controlled incongruence, or stress, to prevent activation of the default distress response.
A controlled environment is essential; however, if change is facilitated too quickly, the stress signal may be activated and the habitual pathological patterns facilitated. Allison, K. International Journal of Neuropsychotherapy, 1 , 21— We make no warranties, express or implied, about the value or utility for any purpose of the information and resources contained on this site. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails.
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The amygdala is recognized as a component of the limbic system , and is thought to play important roles in emotion and behavior. Our modern understanding of amygdala function can be traced back to the s, when Heinrich Kluver and Paul Bucy removed the amygdalae of rhesus monkeys and saw drastic effects on behavior.
Among other things, the monkeys became more docile and seemed to display little fear. The constellation of behavior that resulted from amygdalae removal was called Kluver-Bucy syndrome , and it led to the amygdala being investigated for its role in fear. Since, the amygdala has become best known for its role in fear processing. When we are exposed to a fearful stimulus, information about that stimulus is immediately sent to the amygdala, which can then send signals to areas of the brain like the hypothalamus to trigger a " fight-or-flight " response e.
There is a pathway that runs from the thalamus to the amygdala, and sensory information about fearful stimuli may be sent along this pathway to the amygdala before it is consciously processed by the cerebral cortex. This type of reflexive response can be useful if we really are in great danger. For example, if you are walking through the grass and a snake darts out at you, you don't want to have to spend a lot of time cognitively assessing the danger the snake might pose.
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