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Dread prompts pain in the brain

Imaging shows that anticipation can be as horrible as the event itself.

The paralysing dread one feels before an injection or tooth extraction fires up some of the same brain regions involved in feeling pain itself, say researchers who subjected plucky volunteers to electric shocks. Their discovery supports the idea that distraction could ease a nasty wait.

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Posted by Nicola Jones on May 04, 2006
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what is new in this 'study'?! this fact has been known to clinicians for ages!! I dont think this adds anything to the existing knowledge!

Posted by: dr.V.Srinivas | May 5, 2006 04:23 PM

Unlike the good doctor's comments, which one finds somewhat arrogant for a "healer", I should like more specifics regarding the 'areas' of the brain that were stimulated during the experiments. Were they the amygdala, Broca's area, pituitary gland, hypothalamus, what? It seems the experimenters were involving certain limbic functions... Were the subjects' brain physiologies similar/identical and what batteries of tests were given them to determine their general demeanor prior to testing? i.e. were extreme dreaders more anxious by nature than other testees or were these states of anxiety prompted by the simple prospect of mild electrocution? Did they read their instructions or did they hear them?

Posted by: Timothy DeMillo | May 9, 2006 09:35 PM

"...gut feelings and emotions, such as dread...": dread for me is rational, too.

Posted by: Rudolf Scheutz | May 10, 2006 10:36 AM

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