Of Mice and Fear

Those of you who hang out with me and long-time readers of this journal know that I struggle with fear issues in certain situations (trail rides and airplanes in particular). This is not a "oh I'm not so sure about this" reaction, this is a "my body is being flooded with fear"-physical reaction. And everytime I get on a horse I struggle with fear to some degree (which, happily, usually goes away once I start riding--too much else to occupy my brain!) So a story on NPR this morning really got my attention. The story talked about the identification in mice of a gene that appears to be connected to fear and anxiety. I've copied the story and put it behind the cut below.

So, will it help me if I just say to myself, "Oh it's just that wacky stathmin-produced protein running wild in my amygdala again"? :-)

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