S.M., THE FEARLESS WOMAN 

Over time, fear became strange and unrecognizable to her and she did not have a clear understanding of what it meant to be “scared”. During an interview, SM recalled when she encountered a man who threatened to kill her with a knife against her throat where she had an unusual response: “I said, go ahead and cut me. And I said, I’ll be coming back and I’ll hunt you down”. After saying so, she was left alone by the man. She further mentioned that although she did not feel fear in this situation, she did feel angry and upset [1]. 

As surprising as it may sound, Justin Feinstein of the University of Iowa was able to induce a fear-like feeling in her. Inhaling carbon dioxide causes most individuals to gasp for air, creating a panic attack feeling. In this experiment, SM was asked to wear a gas mask that pumped CO2 every second. After eight seconds, she began to frantically wave her hand near the mask and scream for help. Shortly after, an interview was conducted to record her true feelings in a fear-like situation where she stated “This was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. It was new” [2]. 

Although it may seem that being fearless directly contributes to one's bravery, it is safe to say that the inability to detect such emotions causes difficulty in recognizing life-threatening situations as the fight-or-flight responses remain unknown [3]. Notably, the amygdala further plays an important role in animal brains due to its role in emotional response, allowing them to detect dangerous situations such as escaping predators [5].

However, it is important to highlight that SM’s experience has helped many researchers and neuroscientists learn about the function of the amygdala and its involvement in feeling emotions such as fear. According to research, this disease is only found among three hundred people globally, exhibiting the rareness of this disease and the importance of the research surrounding it. Additionally, it is believed that understanding the functionality of a mind lacking fear may help with the discovery of treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) [4].