Study: What if fear had therapeutic virtues?

Wrongly considered an emotion to be avoided, fear reveals unexpected positive aspects. A Danish study, published in the journal “Brain Behavior and Immunity”, claims that it can act favorably on inflammation.

Researchers from Aarhus University came to this surprising conclusion after conducting an experiment involving 113 participants. For the study, volunteers visited the Dystopia haunted house in Denmark, wearing devices that tracked their levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), a molecule produced by the liver in response to to inflammation in the body. The concentration of hs-CRP in the blood increases rapidly in the presence of infections, injuries or chronic inflammatory diseases.

The scientists also took blood samples from the volunteers before, just after, and three days after their visit to the haunted house to analyze the evolution of this biomarker. They noticed that, at first glance, the level of inflammation did not vary significantly among all the participants.

But, upon closer inspection, an intriguing trend emerged. Participants with mild inflammation before the start of the experiment saw their hs-CRP levels decrease significantly within three days of their visit to Dystopia. Additionally, the research team observed an overall reduction in the number of immune cells in all participants, potentially indicating a calming of the immune system. “Our results suggest that recreational fear could help the body recalibrate immune responses,” the study authors explain in a press release.

In other words, fear could potentially have beneficial effects for the body. This emotion could have a regulatory effect on inflammation, comparable to that of cold. The researchers, however, insist on the need to continue their research, given the methodological limitations they encountered in their study.

Despite everything, these conclusions are encouraging. We could imagine in the future that doctors would prescribe that their patients with chronic inflammatory diseases visit a haunted house or watch horror films to get better. Enough to reconcile us with this feeling that is fear.

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