From Pavlov to PTSD: Genetics and Neuroscience Underlying Fear Related Disorders

From Pavlov to PTSD: Genetics and Neuroscience Underlying Fear Related Disorders

Kerry Ressler, MD, PhD 
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Yerkes Research Center Emory University 

While different anxiety disorders have distinct diagnostic criteria, many of them including Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Panic Disorder, and Phobia are manifest in ways that are consistent with an uncontrollable state of fear.  The development of these fear-related disorders is thought to involve a mix of factors including those conferred by heredity, prior sensitizing experiences, learned association of aversive events with previously neutral stimuli, and inability to inhibit or extinguish fear after it has become chronic and disabling.  The goal of this talk is to highlight recent progress made in the understanding of fear learning and memory, differential susceptibility to the development of disorders of fear, and how this new knowledge is being applied to the understanding, treatment, and possible prevention of fear disorders.

Tuesday April 1st 6:30pm to 7:30pmNorthwest Building, Room B-10152 Oxford Street, Cambridge

Register at: http://conte.harvard.edu/events/
Questions? Contact conte@harvard.edu