Scientists have discovered strange changes in the brains of people with phobias

According to scientists, phobia is the most common anxiety disorder, affecting more than 12% of people.

Adults with phobias have a different brain structure than people with other forms of anxiety. This was reported by MedicalXpress.

“Few have examined the changes in brain structure associated with specific phobias. The studies that have been conducted are usually based on small samples and only examined specific brain regions,” the scientists said.

So, to take a more detailed look, researchers analyzed MRI scans of more than 1,400 children and adults with this or that phobia, as well as nearly 3,000 people who didn’t have it.

The most common phobias were animal phobias (739 participants) and phobias related to blood, injury or injection (182 participants).

Scientists have found that people with phobias have increased thickness in some areas of the brain’s frontal cortex, as well as reduced size in areas such as the caudate nucleus, putamen and hippocampus.

The altered areas are involved in brain processes associated with fear, such as movement, disgust and emotional processing.

However, the size of the amygdala, which is a central regulator of fear and aggression in the brain, was not different in people with phobias.

People with blood, injury and injection phobias had more profound changes than those with animal phobias, supporting the idea that these phobias are related to higher cognitive processes. . This may be why this type of phobia can cause both fear and disgust.

It was noted that these changes in brain structure were not found in people under 21 years of age. According to researchers, they only appear in adulthood.

It has previously been reported that women may be more resistant to space exposure than men.

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