Emotions, Stress & Anxiety

Related Topics Mental Health Diet and Lifestyle Thinking and Awareness
Image of children with drawn faces on paper in front of their faces
The Anatomy of Emotions
It’s hard to describe what an emotion is — let alone how many of them there are or whether everyone experiences the same ones. But we do know this: emotions arise from activity in distinct parts of the brain.
  • BrainFacts/SfN
Your selections: Emotions Stress and Anxiety
Fear and the Brain
Fear is a powerful emotion. Learn how your brain responds when fear takes over.
  • California Science Center
How does the brain handle long-term stress?
People differ enormously as to what they consider to be stressful and how they respond to it. In general, short periods of moderate stress can actually be a good thing for the brain.
  • BrainFacts/SfN
Hormones: Communication between the Brain and the Body
Hormones are important messages both within the brain and between the brain and the body.
  • BrainFacts/SfN
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Extreme stressors such as trauma in combat, being a victim of assault or sexual abuse, or experiencing or witnessing a crime can lead to a form of stress that can last a lifetime.
  • BrainFacts/SfN
Stress: Immediate Response
A stressful situation activates three major communication systems in the brain, all of which regulate bodily functions.
  • BrainFacts/SfN
Stress: The Role of Glucocorticoids
In response to signals from a brain region called the hypothalamus, the adrenal glands secrete glucocorticoids, hormones that produce an array of effects in response to stress.
  • BrainFacts/SfN
Anxiety Disorders: OCD and Phobia
Considered the most common mental illnesses, anxiety disorders affect an estimated 18 percent of the adult population in a given year, or 40 million Americans.
  • BrainFacts/SfN
Chronic Stress
What do standing frustrated in a supermarket checkout line or sitting in a traffic jam have in common with fleeing predators, as was done in the early days of human beings?
  • BrainFacts/SfN
Stress: An Overview
The ability to react quickly in response to threatening events has been with us since the time of our earliest ancestors.
  • BrainFacts/SfN
The Laughing Brain
In this two-part lesson by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, students learn about gelotology (the science of laughter) and its benefits to our social, mental, and physical well-being.
  • American Association for the Advancement of Science
Inside the Teenage Brain
What's going on inside the teenage brain? This Frontline television special explores how science may unlock answers to that question.
  • PBS

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