CONSTELLATIONS

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The absence of fear may seem like a gift, not feeling danger or threat less so. But it seems useful in cases where one is simply apprehensive about unpleasant situations. In the neurobiology of fear, the amygdala is the key brain structure. It includes the process of negative emotions. Moreover, damage to or calcification of the amygdala renders the affected person unable to recognize expressions of fear, while being able to discern other emotions. Let's look at a very specific case: Researchers have observed that due to brain damage, particularly to the amygdala, a woman nicknamed SM with the Urbach-Wiethe disease was completely unable to feel fear.

The Urbach-Wiethe disease is a rare genetic pathology, which manifests itself mainly by dermatological symptoms, like a thickening of the skin and mucous membranes. But in some cases, calcifications occur in the brain. SM has the full range of feelings, except for one. In a series of experiments, scientists wanted to put her to the test.They first took her to a store selling exotic animals, specifically snakes and spiders. While she said she hated critters, she had no qualms about handling and petting a snake for three minutes. She even asked the vendor if she could do it again with her most dangerous specimens, which she was denied, and had to be stopped when she tried to touch a tarantula. She was then taken to an old hospital that every year on Halloween is transformed into a haunted house where fake monsters and ghosts try to scare visitors. Instead of shivering or startling, SM laughed, showing no signs of apprehension when it came to venturing into the darkest corners. Finally, she was asked to watch a series of clips. She laughed at the funny parts, was disgusted by the disgusting parts, etc., but did not show the slightest fear at the horror film clips. The authors of this study also discovered, when interviewing her, that she lived in a poor neighborhood with a high crime rate and had been threatened with death on several occasions, without being traumatized by these experiences. In particular, SM told them how one night, while walking through a park on her way home, she had almost been slit by a stranger, who had held a knife to her throat before walking away. The next day and the days after, SM continued to pass through the same park. She also suffered two armed robberies.

For the researchers studying her case, "SM has great difficulty detecting imminent threats in her environment and learning to avoid dangerous situations, characteristics of her behavior that, in all likelihood, have contributed to the fact that she has often put her life at risk." This woman is somehow deprived of her survival instinct.”