We need to re-assess treatments for anxiety conditions

Joseph LeDoux says the acceptance of the ineffectiveness of drugs currently used for alleviating anxiety opens the door for new methods based on a better understanding of how the brain works

WHEN researchers want to evaluate the efficacy of new anxiety treatments, the traditional approach is to study how rats or mice behave in uncomfortable or stressful situations.

Rodents shun brightly lit, open spaces, where, in the wild, they would become easy prey. So their natural tendency in a test apparatus is to find areas that are poorly illuminated or close to walls. The longer a medicated animal spends in areas in which it is unprotected, the more effective the drug is judged to be in treating anxiety.