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Behavioral interventions to eliminate fear responses

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Abstract

Fear memory underlies anxiety-related disorders, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD is a fear-based disorder, characterized by difficulties in extinguishing the learned fear response and maintaining extinction. Currently, the first-line treatment for PTSD is exposure therapy, which forms an extinction memory to compete with the original fear memory. However, the extinguished fear often returns under numerous circumstances, suggesting that novel methods are needed to eliminate fear memory or facilitate extinction memory. This review discusses research that targeted extinction and reconsolidation to manipulate fear memory. Recent studies indicate that sleep is an active state that can regulate memory processes. We also discuss the influence of sleep on fear memory. For each manipulation, we briefly summarize the neural mechanisms that have been identified in human studies. Finally, we highlight potential limitations and future directions in the field to better translate existing interventions to clinical settings.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key Technology Research and Development Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2015BAI13B01).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, Key of Mental Health, Ministry of Health (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), Beijing, 100191, China

    Jingli Yue, Le Shi, Xiao Lin & Lin Lu

  2. National Institute on Drug Dependence, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China

    Le Shi, Muhammad Zahid Khan, Jie Shi & Lin Lu

  3. Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences and PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    Xiao Lin & Lin Lu

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  1. Jingli Yue
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Yue, J., Shi, L., Lin, X. et al. Behavioral interventions to eliminate fear responses. Sci. China Life Sci. 61, 625–632 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-018-9294-4

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