Rachael McClenaghan
Dr. Boyd
Biology Honors
September 5, 2011
Does Stress Help Us Succeed?

Worrying is a body’s natural defense reaction when faced with any sort of threat or fear. Pioneering research has found the “worry center” of the brain and revealed that it is an area of the brain that deals with survival and the judgment of threats and risks. In the same study, researchers looked at anxiety treatments. They have found that the medicine affected human defense reactions. "Feelings like worry and anxiety may be unpleasant, but it seems they are part of our defensive repertoire and help keep us safe and it is only when they become exaggerated do they represent an illness," says Dr Adam Perkins of King's College London. "Our ultimate aim is to improve the detection, diagnosis and treatment of illnesses, such as anxiety, where there are unusually strong and debilitating forms of worry."