How microbiomes affect fear

[The Eternal Flame]

Dec 04, 2019 New studies help to explain how microbes in the gut can shape a host’s fear responses. Researchers are finding evidence that microbiomes can influence the fear responses of their hosts, possibly by releasing compounds that affect the brain’s neuroanatomy and function.

Our brains may seem physically far removed from our guts, but in recent years, research has strongly suggested that the vast communities of microbes concentrated in our digestive tract open lines of communication between the two...

https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-microbiomes-affect-fear-20191204/

Edited December 4, 2019 by The Eternal Flame

[Susanc241]

This is very interesting, but something I have long believed myself - the intimate connection between brain and gut.  As a sufferer of phobic anxiety for more than 50 years I was recently diagnosed as having PTSD from a linked series of events leading up to age 20, when the phobic anxiety kicked off.  “An inability to extinguish fear is also present in PTSD and tied to other brain disorders...” and this statement possibly explains my lack of success in overcoming my fears.  Hopefully this research will lead to treatments and therapies so others don’t have to endure what I have and still have to endure on a daily basis.  At 71, I think it is coming too late for me.