At the 2017 Neuroscience Education Institute (NEI) Congress, a Friday session focused on the physiology of fear and its impact on wellness. It was presented by Mary D. Moller, PhD, DNP, ARNP, PMHCNS-BC, CPRP, FAAN, associate professor, Pacific Lutheran University School of Nursing, and director of Psychiatric Services, Northwest Center for Integrated Health.
At the 2017 Neuroscience Education Institute (NEI) Congress, a Friday session focused on the physiology of fear and its impact on wellness.
“Fear is a feeling that is internal and is conscience,” said Mary D. Moller, PhD, DNP, ARNP, PMHCNS-BC, CPRP, FAAN, associate professor, Pacific Lutheran University School of Nursing, and director of Psychiatric Services, Northwest Center for Integrated Health.
It arises when sensory systems in the brain have determined an external stimulus poses a threat. Outputs of threat detection circuits trigger a general increase in brain arousal and can result in altered threat processing: fear and anxiety disorders.
Moller first explained Hans Selye’s 3 predictable stages the body uses to respond to stressors, called the general adaptation syndrome:
Alterations to the HPA axis can cause several conditions such as chronic pain, fibromyalgia, and insulin resistance, said Moller.
Moller then outlined the potential consequences of fear on overall, physical, emotional, environmental, and spiritual health. The potential effects of chronic fear on overall health include:
The potential effects of chronic fear on physical health include headaches turning into migraines, muscle aches turning into fibromyalgia, body aches turning into chronic pain, and difficulty breathing turning into asthma, said Moller.
The potential effects of chronic fear on emotional health include:
The potential consequences of chronic fear on environmental health include:
The potential consequences of chronic fear on spiritual health:
Lastly, Moller explained that fear affects the ability to learn.
“The brain’s capacity to retrieve previous learning is dependent on specific chemical states,” said Moller. “Chemical alterations can distort perception of sensory information thus distorting storage.”
When the brain is hyper aroused, storage may be incomplete and new information will be stored in nonverbal memory, said Moller. This distorts the storage of sensory input and the retrieval of information will be affected.
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