Passion and Fury

The Emotional Brain series

A co-production of Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation

A four-part series that looks at the primal emotions that are generated in the brain, and how nature and nurture combine to make us feel the way we do. The parts are Anger, Fear, Love and Happiness.

Each film: 43 min. Sale. Video or DVD $250.Video rental $75. Series: Sale. Video or DVD $795.

1. Anger

This program examines anger, from its primordial roots in self-defense to its expression in modern violence. We meet several men who have lost control of their anger and committed violent acts One killed his wife for not obeying him; another smashed a car with a sledge hammer while enraged. Each of the men appear gentle and penitent in their quieter moments. What possesses them to lose control?

Psychologists and neuroscientists from Duke University, University of Wisconsin, and University of California, with the help of sophisticated graphics, demonstrate the areas of the brain that become activated in such explosions of temper, such as the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex. Interestingly, the larger the amount of gray matter in the brain, the less prone the person is to acts of violence.

The study of the origins of violence impacts on the judicial system as well. How responsible is a person for his or her behavior if their brain or genetic make-up is predisposed to violence? This film shows how the potential for impulsive anger lurks in our genes and what science can do to help us control it.

2. Love

This program examines the complexity of the emotion we call love, from the burning desire that can strike suddenly, to the giddy euphoria of falling in love.What is the incredible bond a mother feels for her infant, and how does it relate to the feeling couples may have after a lifetime of living together?

Anthropologist Helen Fisher of Rutgers University takes us through the three very different emotions that are often grouped under the word “love,” namely, lust, romantic love, and attachment. Attachment is what may happen with couples after romantic love has passed, and it enriches their lives. Neuroscientist Charles Nelson explains the role of the prefrontal cortex in the “uncontrollable” love typical of teenagers. In Italy studies are being done on “love junkies”, those who are addicted to falling in love but unable to make meaningful attachments. Parental love is explored by Richard Davidson, University of Wisconsin. The film shows how different areas of the brain are activated by neurotransmitters to evoke the emotion called love, which gives us the most profound sense of our humanity.

3.Fear

Fear is the most primal and powerful emotion, from its evolutionary origins in the involuntary fight-or-flight survival instinct, to its essential function as a learning tool today. A pilot tells how, as his plane was running out of fuel, his brain took control suppressing the panic that other passengers experienced, and allowing him to make a rocky but safe premature landing. Fear activated his survival instinct.

Many people suffer from irrational fears and phobias, although scientists are finding ways to help them.We learn that phobias can be transmitted genetically but may be ameliorated through nurturing. One young woman is terrified of snakes, another has agoraphobia. We see how they are taught to master their overwhelming fears.

David Amaral, researcher at the University of California, Davis found that monkeys whose amygdala had been removed were less likely to fear real danger and, therefore, were prone to put themselves into risky situations. There are some people who are “fear junkies.” They enjoy the physical sensations that fear generates. They love scary movies and extreme sports.

Psychiatrist Fletcher Taylor has found that certain drugs developed for other disorders may protect people from the exaggerated fear response caused by post traumatic stress. The U.S. military developed a “brave pill” to combat anxiety in soldiers. It was withdrawn because the implications were too controversial.

4. Happiness

Drawing a distinction between the lasting state of happiness and the pursuit of instant pleasure, the program explores the evolutionary role of happiness, and asks what happens in the brain, and possibly in the genes, that makes some people happy and others sad. Since depression is the fastest growing epidemic worldwide, research on the stimulation of positive feelings has momentous possibilities.

Dopamine generated in the brain is responsible for making people happy. Rats who have become addicted to dopamine disregard food in their attempt to get more dopamine and may die of starvation for their addiction. Science has shown that monks during meditation have increased levels of dopamine. An advertising executive describes how positive images in ads trigger the brain, stimulating pleasurable feelings and often overriding the rational side of the brain.

The connection between food and dopamine is being researched in the Brookhaven National Laboratory obesity studies. Scientists are searching for ways to stimulate the rational side of the brain to suppress the inclination to overeat. Many people say they benefit emotionally and physically from laughter clubs started by the Indian Madan Kataria. Serotonin has proven to be a mood stabilizer, and the sales of pharmaceuticals have burgeoned worldwide since 1988. But many question whether drugs are really the answer to achieving happiness