Safety Can Be Learned - And Helps Combat Depression

Learning a feeling of safety activates cellular and molecular processes that act against depression. This has been analysed using a new animal model that helps examine and explain the relevant cell biology processes more effectively.

The findings show that "learned safety" can have an anti-depressive effect comparable to pharmacological antidepressants but that this effect is controlled by other molecular processes. The project supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF was carried out by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Columbia University in the U.S.

Fear is good. It protects us from all kinds of danger and is therefore both part of our instinct and can also be learned. However, fear can also become aggravating or even chronic and cause various psychological conditions such as depression.


Original publication:
An Animal Model of a Behavioral Intervention for Depression.
Neuron 60, 149-161, DOI 10.1016/j.neuron.2008.07.041