Essentials: Erasing Fears & Traumas Using Modern Neuroscience

Huberman Lab

Scicomm Media

Science, Health & Fitness, Life Sciences

4.8 • 26.2K Ratings

🗓️ 6 November 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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. Thank you to our sponsors AGZ by AG1: https://drinkagz.com/huberman LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/huberman Function: https://functionhealth.com/huberman 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 Disclaimer & Disclosures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Huberman Lab Essentials,
0:02.3	where we revisit past episodes
0:04.4	for the most potent and actionable science-based tools
0:07.6	for mental health, physical health, and performance.
0:11.8	I'm Andrew Huberman and I'm a professor of neurobiology
0:14.3	and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine.
0:17.2	Today we're going to talk about the neuroscience of fear.
0:20.6	We are also going to talk about trauma and post-traumatic stress disorders.
0:24.6	I think it's fair to say that in the last 10 years,
0:27.6	the field of neuroscience has shed light on not just the neural circuits,
0:31.6	meaning the areas of the brain that control the fear response
0:35.6	and the ways that it does it,
0:38.1	but some important ways to extinguish fears
0:41.1	using behavioral therapies, drug therapies,
0:43.9	and what we call brain machine interfaces.
0:46.3	Today we are going to talk about all of those.
0:48.7	And you are going to come away with both an understanding
0:51.4	of the biology of fear and trauma,
0:53.9	as well as many practical tools to confront fear and trauma.
0:58.3	To give you a sense of where we are going,
1:00.4	I'll just lay out the framework for today's podcast.
1:03.0	First, I'm going to teach you about the biology of fear and trauma,
	...

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