We all know what fear is.We have experienced it on countless occasions: that feeling of helplessness and vulnerability when we perceive a dangerous situation, that "getting your hair on end" when we are facing a threat or when we remember what we have been through and about to suffer.
Fear is a necessary emotion , primary, that warns us of the dangers .It is related to anxiety and manifests itself in all animals, including human beings.
But there is a woman, whom we have known recently, who does not know him and he has never experienced it; You don't literally know what fear is.
Valentia or disorder?
Sigmund Freud defined, from the psychology, the real fear and the neurotic fear ; the real one exists because there is a correspondence between emotion and threat, and the neurotic occurs when the intensity of fear has no relation to danger.
No doubt in our lives we have felt all kinds of fear: to lose someone, to darkness, to failure, to ghosts, to suffer...rational or irrational fears.
For this woman, whom we will call SM, there is none.She has not been trained by the CIA, Neither by the MI6 nor by the Mossad .She is an average intelligence woman, with three children, forty-something years old who simply cannot experience the fear.In fact, cannot even explain the concept .
Since she was a child, she suffers from a disorder called “ Urbach-Wiethe disease ”.disorder afflicts around 350 people all over the world and consists of a strange mutation of chromosome 1 .In the case of our woman, and in the case of another 10 people who suffer from it , this condition genetics has made parts of his brain harden and stunted, like his amigdala.
The tonsil, our guardian
It has the size of an almond and is part of what is known as deep brain , where the most basic emotions such as rage, survival instinct or fear govern; It is in the depth of the temporal lobes and is an indispensable part of the limbic system, because it processes our emotional reactions.
The amygdala is the one who tells us that we must run to see a danger, who sends the order to the brain to shoot the adrenaline and prepare for action, who tells us to close our eyes to see a horror movie, like The Exorcist .
When not We have our guardian taking care of many things that can happen to us.
To SM, for example, her husband beat her brutally; He was the object of three robberies, one with a white weapon and the other two at gunpoint; He has made heavy financial decisions and lost significant sums of money, and he never felt fear.
His memory and his language and perception skills are good but he is unable to prevent danger.And you know what? Nor does he recognize the facial expressions of fear in others.
Let's talk about science
For about 20 years now been under the medical microscope, and for 6 years under the care of the neuro psychologist Justin Feinstein , of the Technological Institute of California, who insistently tried, in vain, to scare her.I try to make her watch marathons of movies from horror, and nothing.I even take her to a pet store, but they had to intervene because I try to caress tarantulas and snakes.
Fear has to do with caution and she shows no signs of having it.
The experts study his case and the relationship of the tonsil with the traumas.SM does not show signs of emotional problems for everything he has lived, which makes the experts think about a possible treatment for those who suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome (like war veterans, who feel repeated you panic attacks ).
It may seem appealing not to feel afraid of anything, but to survive it is necessary.And as the saying goes: “being brave is overcoming fear”.Temerity is often paid dearly.
Did you find the article interesting? Do you want to know how fear feels? Then you can't stop reading about the doll Robert, a true horror story.
Images: ihave3kids, Jhayne, Tracy Abildskov, stuart anthony
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