Researchers at the University of Queensland have identified the biological cause of fear and are working on a way to turn it off, in hopes the research will benefit people suffering from extreme phobias and PTSD.
The team from the Queensland Brain Institute at the University of Queensland identified chemical tags which attach themselves to a person’s DNA at specific locations, acting as “dimmer switches” for learned fear responses.
The researchers believe they could adapt their research to create therapies for people with extreme fear responses or “any fear related memory which triggers reactions”, said UQ researcher Dr. Xiang Li.