{"title":"Fear-Pleasure Paradox in Recreational Fear: Neural Correlates and Therapeutic Potential in Depression.","authors":"Yuting Zhan, Xu Ding","doi":"10.2147/PRBM.S529004","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Recreational fear, voluntary exposure to frightening stimuli in safe contexts (eg, horror films), elicits both distress and pleasure. Although paradoxical enjoyment of fear has been documented in healthy populations, its neural and psychological mechanisms, and potential therapeutic value for depression, remain unclear.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>In a mixed-methods design, Study 1 (<i>N</i> = 216) assessed psychological and physiological responses to standardized fear stimuli across a continuum of depressive symptoms, using heart rate variability, salivary cortisol, and validated self-report measures. Study 2 (<i>N</i> = 84) employed functional MRI to characterize brain activation during and after exposure to the same stimuli in individuals with mild-to-moderate depression.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>An inverted-U-shaped curve linked fear intensity to enjoyment, with depression severity significantly moderating this relationship (<i>β</i> = -0.42, <i>p</i> <0.001): higher symptom levels required stronger stimuli for peak pleasure. Depressed participants showed greater ventromedial prefrontal cortex activation and attenuated amygdala responses, suggesting enhanced engagement of regulatory circuits. fMRI analyses also revealed transient normalization of default-mode and salience-network connectivity following fear exposure (<i>t</i>(83) = 3.87, <i>p</i> <0.001, <i>d</i> = 0.84).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Controlled recreational fear may transiently engage emotion-regulatory networks and modify maladaptive connectivity patterns in depression, offering a novel adjunctive strategy. These findings are preliminary and correlational; future studies should examine causal effects and long-term clinical impact.</p>","PeriodicalId":20954,"journal":{"name":"Psychology Research and Behavior Management","volume":"18 ","pages":"1509-1518"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2000,"publicationDate":"2025-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12212089/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Psychology Research and Behavior Management","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S529004","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, CLINICAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Recreational fear, voluntary exposure to frightening stimuli in safe contexts (eg, horror films), elicits both distress and pleasure. Although paradoxical enjoyment of fear has been documented in healthy populations, its neural and psychological mechanisms, and potential therapeutic value for depression, remain unclear.
Methods: In a mixed-methods design, Study 1 (N = 216) assessed psychological and physiological responses to standardized fear stimuli across a continuum of depressive symptoms, using heart rate variability, salivary cortisol, and validated self-report measures. Study 2 (N = 84) employed functional MRI to characterize brain activation during and after exposure to the same stimuli in individuals with mild-to-moderate depression.
Results: An inverted-U-shaped curve linked fear intensity to enjoyment, with depression severity significantly moderating this relationship (β = -0.42, p <0.001): higher symptom levels required stronger stimuli for peak pleasure. Depressed participants showed greater ventromedial prefrontal cortex activation and attenuated amygdala responses, suggesting enhanced engagement of regulatory circuits. fMRI analyses also revealed transient normalization of default-mode and salience-network connectivity following fear exposure (t(83) = 3.87, p <0.001, d = 0.84).
Conclusion: Controlled recreational fear may transiently engage emotion-regulatory networks and modify maladaptive connectivity patterns in depression, offering a novel adjunctive strategy. These findings are preliminary and correlational; future studies should examine causal effects and long-term clinical impact.
期刊介绍:
Psychology Research and Behavior Management is an international, peer-reviewed, open access journal focusing on the science of psychology and its application in behavior management to develop improved outcomes in the clinical, educational, sports and business arenas. Specific topics covered in the journal include: -Neuroscience, memory and decision making -Behavior modification and management -Clinical applications -Business and sports performance management -Social and developmental studies -Animal studies The journal welcomes submitted papers covering original research, clinical studies, surveys, reviews and evaluations, guidelines, expert opinion and commentary, case reports and extended reports.