
The neural reward that makes avoiding your fears feel so good
We’re told that facing our fears can help us overcome them – but this misses the other intoxicating part of the equation
by Muhammad Badarnee & Mohammed R Milad
Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston
Mohammed R Milad is a John S Dunn Endowed Chair and professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. He is a behavioural neuroscientist with extensive expertise in brain mechanisms of Pavlovian fear conditioning and extinction, with a focus on psychiatric conditions.