• People with generalized anxiety disorder have weaker connections between a brain region in charge of emotional response and the amygdala, suggesting that due to the lack of regulation, the brain’s “panic button” may be chronically pushed down.
• Repeated exposure to traumatic images from the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 and the Iraq War has been found harmful to people’s health.
• A roadmap to areas of the brain that are associated with “affective aggression” in mice may be the first step in finding therapies for humans suffering from aggression disorders.
• Heavy alcohol use rewires the brain and can slow recovery from trauma.

Heather Rudow is a staff writer for Counseling Today. Email her at hrudow@counseling.org.