WASHINGON POST: …[F]or one man, researchers recently reported in Neurocase, giving up a bit of brain meant the difference between arachnophobia — an intense fear of spiders — and a pleasant fascination with the arachnids.
The amygdala is deep inside the brain, and there’s no way of messing with it without invasive surgery. So no, this patient didn’t go under the knife just to get rid of his manageable fear of spiders. NewScientist reports that the 44-year-old businessman was suffering from sudden seizures caused by sarcoidosis. This rare condition can cause damage to the brain, and it was messing with the left portion of his amygdala.
Once it was removed, the man’s fear of spiders was gone. In fact, he went from being afraid to kill spiders by hand to actually wanting to touch and observe them close-up… (more)
