The Huberman Lab Podcast discusses neuroscience: how our brain and its connections with the organs of our body control our perceptions, our behaviors, and our health. We also discuss existing and emerging tools for measuring and changing how our nervous system works. Dr. Andrew Huberman is a tenured Professor of Neurobiology and Ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. His laboratory studies neural regeneration, neuroplasticity, and brain states such as stress, focus, fear, and optimal performance. For more than 20 years, Dr. Huberman has consistently published original research findings and review articles in top-level peer-reviewed journals, including Nature, Science, Cell, Neuron, and Current Biology. He is a regular member of several National Institutes of Health review panels and a Fellow of the McKnight Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts. Dr. Huberman regularly consults for technology development companies, professional athletic organizations, and various units of U.S. and Canadian Special Operations.
Essentials: Erasing Fears & Traumas Using Modern Neuroscience
In this Huberman Lab Essentials episode, I explore the neuroscience of fear and trauma and how to effectively process and eliminate traumatic responses.
I explain why successful fear treatment requires both extinction of the old fearful response and replacement with a new positive association—not just cognitive reframing. I also explain how the threat reflex activates specific circuits connecting the amygdala, prefrontal cortex, and dopamine systems, and why detailed recounting of traumatic events progressively reduces their physiological impact. Finally, I review evidence-based approaches, including prolonged exposure therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy, discuss how five minutes per day of deliberate stress through cyclic hyperventilation can rewire fear responses, explain the critical role of social connection in activating neural pathways that reduce trauma, and share supplementation options for managing anxiety.
Read the episode show notes at hubermanlab.com.
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Timestamps
(0:00) Introducing Fear & Trauma
(0:17) What is Fear?
(1:03) Autonomic Arousal: "Alertness" vs. "Calmness"
(2:05) Fear vs. Stress & Anxiety
(9:20) "The Threat Reflex": Neural Circuits for Fear
(20:50) Cognitive (Narrative) Therapies for Fear
(26:35) PTSD Treatments: Ketamine, MDMA, Oxytocin
(33:11) Deliberate Brief Stress Can Erase Fears & Trauma
(35:51) Nutrition, Sleep, & Other General Support Erasing Fear & Trauma
(38:18) Recap
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