Persistent threats. Anxiety researcher Borwin Bandelow explains how our brains deal with constant horror reports.
SN / private
Anxiety researcher Borwin Bandelow: “A threat triggers an endorphin release in the brain. It should mentally arm us against blows of fate. But if we then find out that we are not personally affected after all, the state of alarm ends – but the endorphins remain in the blood. That’s why we love hearing about disaster news.”
Borwin Bandelow is Professor of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy and Senior Scientist at the University Medical Center Göttingen with a focus on anxiety disorders.
Mr. Bandelow, are you scared right now? Borwin Bandelow: Well, we were just looking forward to a nice spring without corona masks, and now there’s this sudden, massive threat from a nuclear power – leading to a danger that, at worst, would not spare anyone. Of course it can be scary.
And then what happens in the brain? In principle, turns …
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