Charlie Rose Brain Series: The Anxious Brain

In the eighth episode of the Charlie Rose Brain Series, the roundtable discusses fear, anxiety, and aggression and the brain mechanisms behind these phenomena. They look at the fight or flight response which humans share with the animal kingdom, and the unique ways in which human beings have adapted this response to the modern world. Neuropsychiatrist Eric Kandel points out initial insights coming from philosopher William James, in that the sequence of fear comes first with the bodily response and then the conscious feeling of fear. They examine the main brain structures involved in the fear response with emphasis placed on the amygdala. And they discuss anxiety and fear disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and methods for treating anxiety disorders. They close the talk with a look at aggression and the nature vs. nurture questions when it comes to aggression.