“Run into a cave and break your ankle so that people have to come find you and they see you lying at the bottom of this beautiful cave and maybe there’s a waterfall and the light from the crystals makes you look really beautiful and they say “Are you okay?” and you say “I think so” and they say “oh my God have you been here alone this whole time with a broken ankle” and you say “it’s okay” and they say “you’re so brave” and you are brave and you look so beautiful surrounded by cave crystals and everyone stands over you and says “oh wow” and “you poor beautiful thing” and “I’m so sorry we let you run into the cave but I’m so glad we found you” and let them carry you home and promise to be your best friends forever and that everything’s their fault and also they named the cave after you and you’re prettier than all of your enemies and your enemies all died of jealousy while you were in the cave.”
HtW is the culmination of everything I’ve learned from over 10 years making online comics, written out in a handy book format! It’s 140+ pages of information, with additional illustrations and diagrams to help readers navigate the visual language of comics.
With this book I aim to teach you everything you need to know to jump into the wonderful world of online comics, to help you get your story out there and succeed online! Topics in the book include (but are not limited to):
Concepting
Writing and scripting
Drawing for comics
Paneling and visual pacing
Art programs
Building a website
Webcomic platforms
Self-promotion
Social media marketing
Monetization (Patreon, etc.)
Building a community
…and more!
Are you ready to jump into the wild world of comic-making? Then this is the book for you!!
After recovering from a severe accident that causes Harry to lose his memory of three years, he moves to London to start his life over as a star chef. Little does he know that when he falls in love with Louis at first sight, it’s not the first time they meet.
Featuring an unintentional game of hot and cold, Harry chasing memories that won’t come back, Louis burying himself in work to try and forget what he can’t forget, Liam being torn between two of his best friends, Zayn as a moral compass and Niall saving the day with good music and brutal honesty.
“Where did I say it’s been easy for you, or,” he paused, staring at Harry’s lowered head and willing him to look up, “where have you ever gotten the idea that it’s been easy for me either?” When a few beats had passed and Louis was sure the conversation was done, Harry looked up, straight into Louis’ eyes like he was trying to physically pin him in place. “Our situations are completely different and you know it, please stop trying to - .” “Then let me help you fix it, Harry,” Louis interrupted, desperate to reach out and cover his hand with one of his own. “Let me help, please.”
Harry’s the head chef at Azoff’s Catering, and he loves his job; the opportunity has always been more than he could dream of and he’s proud of the food he creates. Until he meets Louis, an event coordinator rising through the ranks with his own company, and who reminds him of the dreams he once had for his own career. While their easy friendship initially thrives in an industry known for chaos and betrayal, they soon discover they both have their secrets, and maybe it’s too late for either of them to try to find happiness outside of their work. Especially when they realise that their happiness might rely on each other.
Harry is a single father, pretending to be a beta after his alpha mated him and left him. He’s getting by just fine raising the twins when Louis walks into his bakery. Too bad him and Louis will never be a thing.
Louis couldn’t be prouder of his bake, but there’s something—there’s something. Something about Harry Styles and the earnest way he measures, pours, mixes, scrapes. Something about the tip of his tongue poking out of his mouth as he knocks the air out of his batter.
or a great british bake off au in which louis cares about winning and winning only, harry is made of sunshine and rainbow sprinkles, and niall sticks his nose into other people’s business. also featuring liam as louis’s best friend-slash-concerned mother, and zayn as a macaron connoisseur.
Louis Tomlinson meets Hollywood Heartthrob, Harry Styles when he walks into Louis’ little bakery one day.
Immediately, Louis is charmed by him and Louis thinks Harry might feel the same way, given the fact that Harry has visited the bakery everyday since he’d come to town.
Until one day, Harry walks in with a boyfriend under his arm and a smile on his face.
The one where Louis owns a small bakery that’s well known in his town and Harry Styles is an actor who comes to town to film a new movie. Louis is endeared by him, but that doesn’t seem to matter since Harry Styles is already taken.
The Bon Appétit YouTube channel has become an unexpected success partly due to the newest series developed by classically trained pastry chef Harry Styles who is intent on making the art of baking accessible to the masses. He and his best friend Louis Tomlinson have been with the magazine for years and they’re unused to the level of online fame they’ve suddenly achieved.
It’s easy for Harry to brush it off and ignore it (despite the teasing they get around the test kitchen) because Louis is happily married and has been for years—since just before they met for the first time. Or, it was easy to brush it off, but at the beginning of the summer, just as they’re leading up to the stress of planning the annual holiday issue, Louis and his husband decide to file for divorce.
Louis scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. “I don’t understand. Unmated alphas don’t just go into a rut out of nowhere. Unless…”
Louis grabbed onto Niall’s arm in desperation. “Am I a homewrecker? Does Harry have a mate? Oh my God, was he not flirting? Did the change in his scent not have anything to do with my smell yesterday? Did I just make that up!?”
Louis let go of Niall and dropped his face in his hands. “I knew it was too good to be true.”
“You’re an idiot,” Niall stated. Louis looked up to find Niall rolling his eyes. He snapped his laptop closed and moved to stand up. “I need to get some work done. Why don’t you stay here and think back to ABO dynamics 101.”
With that Niall hopped off the couch and headed to his room. He stopped and turned to Louis before he made it to the hall and said, “Oh, and Lou. You may want to reconsider your outlook on soulmates.”
Louis yelled after him. “Soulmates aren’t a thing, Niall!”
Or the one in which banana bread just might make Louis change his mind about soulmates.
So, fast-forwarding eight years from the day Harry met Louis, he is now a twenty-seven year old owner of one of the most up-and-coming eating establishments on the London restaurant scene, father of two wonderful boys and… separated from his husband. Now, that last part definitely was never a part of the original plan.
Or, Harry and Louis are separated, but for the sake of their two sons, they choose to spend Christmas together. It may just lead to a Christmas miracle.
When Harry Styles, an actor who has grown accustomed living in Los Angeles agreed to do The Great British Bake Off in London, never in his life would he imagined that a certain singer-songwriter serial-heartbreaker Louis Tomlinson would be there too.
“When are you going to accept my offer to go out again? It’s been seven years and you’re still saying no to a fun night?” Niall complains.
“A night in with Mads is a fun night for me Ni, I already told you that.” Harry responds while serving a customer.
“You’re infuriating, I just want my best friend to go out with me tonight, is it too much to ask?” Niall pouts but all Harry does is chuckle and prepare the coffee machine for the double espresso the customer ordered.
“Playing the victim, are we now?” Harry is so used to Niall’s techniques. “Well, I have good news for you, Maddie is having a sleepover at one of her friends so tonight so I’m all yours.”
OR AU where Harry is a single father and a one-night stand is going to change his life forever.
What really fucks with his head is the fact that Nick Grimshaw didn’t just lie and disguise his evil plan as a birthday present. He didn’t simply force Louis into his little psychological torture despite his efforts to keep that from happening. He didn’t even stop after involving another innocent person into his cruel game. He also paid Harry Styles, a handsome, charming, young chef, so he would teach Louis how to cook. He told Harry Styles which days Louis works the morning shift and that’s why Harry Styles knocks on his door every Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.
So basically Nick bets Louis he can’t go two months without sex. And then he introduces Harry to him. Because he’s the Devil
It had been the single minded goal for them since college and seemed simple enough. 1. Study hard. 2. Open their dream restaurant. 3. Take the culinary world by storm.
What could possibly go wrong?
Or the Restaurant AU where Louis and Niall are chefs, Chicago is windy, and cracking the big time is harder than they ever imagined. But when a mysterious man starts grading Louis’ soups by leaving little piles of rocks, could it be just the thing they need to get them on the road to success?
Louis is scheduled to work an overnight shift with Harry, the hot new pastry chef, to complete a special order. Into the late hours of the night, they bond over music and the ability to make each other laugh like no one else… which makes it harder and harder for Louis to hide his crush. Maybe it won’t be so bad if he can’t.
Or an AU inspired entirely by a manip of Harry with highlights.
Louis only comes to town to start up a successful restaurant, but finds he can’t quite leave once the job is done. Though, that might have more to do with him falling for his quirky neighbor than anything else.
A fic loosely based on the movie Simply Irresistible. A silly and funny movie with Sarah Michelle Gellar about witchcraft, cooking, and sex that everybody needs to watch at some point in their lives.
“You look different when you’re not covered in come,” he blurts out, immediately regretting each and every life choice that has led to this exact moment. Elevator Guy is going to hate him.
Louis has ridden the elevator with his neighbor all week. The first time they speak, there’s a misunderstanding.
Zayn steals a grape and throws it at Louis, missing and hitting him in the chest. “You could come up with some kind of contest. Like, make an alpha win you over with a little competition.”
Louis perks up, smiling devilishly at Zayn. “That’s a perfect idea!”
omega louis is next in line to rule the pack. in spite of the rule saying he needs an alpha to rule, he creates an impossible olympics to find a worthy mate. harry somehow wins the gold.
Percabeth Influencer AU Fake dating, Strangers to Best Friends to Lovers Annabeth Chase did not expect to become an influencer when she started an Instagram account. Perhaps more unexpected is Percy Jackson, the photographer who through a series of events gets mistaken for her boyfriend. As a friendship blossoms from a mistaken identity the two decide to lean into, perhaps deeper feelings will come about as well.
When Harry sees Louis step in his beginners cooking class for the first time, he’s surprised to say the least. Not only is Louis an Alpha, he’s probably the most attractive Alpha Harry has ever come across. The next five weeks are sure to be interesting.
After recovering from a severe accident that causes Harry to lose his memory of three years, he moves to London to start his life over as a star chef. Little does he know that when he falls in love with Louis at first sight, it’s not the first time they meet.
Featuring an unintentional game of hot and cold, Harry chasing memories that won’t come back, Louis burying himself in work to try and forget what he can’t forget, Liam being torn between two of his best friends, Zayn as a moral compass and Niall saving the day with good music and brutal honesty.
“Where did I say it’s been easy for you, or,” he paused, staring at Harry’s lowered head and willing him to look up, “where have you ever gotten the idea that it’s been easy for me either?” When a few beats had passed and Louis was sure the conversation was done, Harry looked up, straight into Louis’ eyes like he was trying to physically pin him in place. “Our situations are completely different and you know it, please stop trying to - .” “Then let me help you fix it, Harry,” Louis interrupted, desperate to reach out and cover his hand with one of his own. “Let me help, please.”
Harry’s the head chef at Azoff’s Catering, and he loves his job; the opportunity has always been more than he could dream of and he’s proud of the food he creates. Until he meets Louis, an event coordinator rising through the ranks with his own company, and who reminds him of the dreams he once had for his own career. While their easy friendship initially thrives in an industry known for chaos and betrayal, they soon discover they both have their secrets, and maybe it’s too late for either of them to try to find happiness outside of their work. Especially when they realise that their happiness might rely on each other.
Harry is a single father, pretending to be a beta after his alpha mated him and left him. He’s getting by just fine raising the twins when Louis walks into his bakery. Too bad him and Louis will never be a thing.
Louis couldn’t be prouder of his bake, but there’s something—there’s something. Something about Harry Styles and the earnest way he measures, pours, mixes, scrapes. Something about the tip of his tongue poking out of his mouth as he knocks the air out of his batter.
or a great british bake off au in which louis cares about winning and winning only, harry is made of sunshine and rainbow sprinkles, and niall sticks his nose into other people’s business. also featuring liam as louis’s best friend-slash-concerned mother, and zayn as a macaron connoisseur.
Louis Tomlinson meets Hollywood Heartthrob, Harry Styles when he walks into Louis’ little bakery one day.
Immediately, Louis is charmed by him and Louis thinks Harry might feel the same way, given the fact that Harry has visited the bakery everyday since he’d come to town.
Until one day, Harry walks in with a boyfriend under his arm and a smile on his face.
The one where Louis owns a small bakery that’s well known in his town and Harry Styles is an actor who comes to town to film a new movie. Louis is endeared by him, but that doesn’t seem to matter since Harry Styles is already taken.
The Bon Appétit YouTube channel has become an unexpected success partly due to the newest series developed by classically trained pastry chef Harry Styles who is intent on making the art of baking accessible to the masses. He and his best friend Louis Tomlinson have been with the magazine for years and they’re unused to the level of online fame they’ve suddenly achieved.
It’s easy for Harry to brush it off and ignore it (despite the teasing they get around the test kitchen) because Louis is happily married and has been for years—since just before they met for the first time. Or, it was easy to brush it off, but at the beginning of the summer, just as they’re leading up to the stress of planning the annual holiday issue, Louis and his husband decide to file for divorce.
Louis scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. “I don’t understand. Unmated alphas don’t just go into a rut out of nowhere. Unless…”
Louis grabbed onto Niall’s arm in desperation. “Am I a homewrecker? Does Harry have a mate? Oh my God, was he not flirting? Did the change in his scent not have anything to do with my smell yesterday? Did I just make that up!?”
Louis let go of Niall and dropped his face in his hands. “I knew it was too good to be true.”
“You’re an idiot,” Niall stated. Louis looked up to find Niall rolling his eyes. He snapped his laptop closed and moved to stand up. “I need to get some work done. Why don’t you stay here and think back to ABO dynamics 101.”
With that Niall hopped off the couch and headed to his room. He stopped and turned to Louis before he made it to the hall and said, “Oh, and Lou. You may want to reconsider your outlook on soulmates.”
Louis yelled after him. “Soulmates aren’t a thing, Niall!”
Or the one in which banana bread just might make Louis change his mind about soulmates.
So, fast-forwarding eight years from the day Harry met Louis, he is now a twenty-seven year old owner of one of the most up-and-coming eating establishments on the London restaurant scene, father of two wonderful boys and… separated from his husband. Now, that last part definitely was never a part of the original plan.
Or, Harry and Louis are separated, but for the sake of their two sons, they choose to spend Christmas together. It may just lead to a Christmas miracle.
When Harry Styles, an actor who has grown accustomed living in Los Angeles agreed to do The Great British Bake Off in London, never in his life would he imagined that a certain singer-songwriter serial-heartbreaker Louis Tomlinson would be there too.
“When are you going to accept my offer to go out again? It’s been seven years and you’re still saying no to a fun night?” Niall complains.
“A night in with Mads is a fun night for me Ni, I already told you that.” Harry responds while serving a customer.
“You’re infuriating, I just want my best friend to go out with me tonight, is it too much to ask?” Niall pouts but all Harry does is chuckle and prepare the coffee machine for the double espresso the customer ordered.
“Playing the victim, are we now?” Harry is so used to Niall’s techniques. “Well, I have good news for you, Maddie is having a sleepover at one of her friends so tonight so I’m all yours.”
OR AU where Harry is a single father and a one-night stand is going to change his life forever.
What really fucks with his head is the fact that Nick Grimshaw didn’t just lie and disguise his evil plan as a birthday present. He didn’t simply force Louis into his little psychological torture despite his efforts to keep that from happening. He didn’t even stop after involving another innocent person into his cruel game. He also paid Harry Styles, a handsome, charming, young chef, so he would teach Louis how to cook. He told Harry Styles which days Louis works the morning shift and that’s why Harry Styles knocks on his door every Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.
So basically Nick bets Louis he can’t go two months without sex. And then he introduces Harry to him. Because he’s the Devil
It had been the single minded goal for them since college and seemed simple enough. 1. Study hard. 2. Open their dream restaurant. 3. Take the culinary world by storm.
What could possibly go wrong?
Or the Restaurant AU where Louis and Niall are chefs, Chicago is windy, and cracking the big time is harder than they ever imagined. But when a mysterious man starts grading Louis’ soups by leaving little piles of rocks, could it be just the thing they need to get them on the road to success?
Louis is scheduled to work an overnight shift with Harry, the hot new pastry chef, to complete a special order. Into the late hours of the night, they bond over music and the ability to make each other laugh like no one else… which makes it harder and harder for Louis to hide his crush. Maybe it won’t be so bad if he can’t.
Or an AU inspired entirely by a manip of Harry with highlights.
Louis only comes to town to start up a successful restaurant, but finds he can’t quite leave once the job is done. Though, that might have more to do with him falling for his quirky neighbor than anything else.
A fic loosely based on the movie Simply Irresistible. A silly and funny movie with Sarah Michelle Gellar about witchcraft, cooking, and sex that everybody needs to watch at some point in their lives.
“You look different when you’re not covered in come,” he blurts out, immediately regretting each and every life choice that has led to this exact moment. Elevator Guy is going to hate him.
Louis has ridden the elevator with his neighbor all week. The first time they speak, there’s a misunderstanding.
idk im really tired of 15-17 year olds who have never interacted with the gay community irl and spend too much time on tiktok trying to act like the authority on all that is lgbt+
mean this in the kindest possible way. if you are too young and unsafe to go to your gay community center or pride here’s some ways you can connect to gay history.
It’s not the kind of meeting you’re going to tell your kids about. No, not at all.
It’s a quick glance across a crowded bar, eyes immediately locking with the other’s and it’s anything but love at first sight. It’s quick, it’s dirty, and it’s dark — he has the kind of eyes you could imagine yourself getting lost in, not because you’re head over heels for the man but because you can already feel how they’ll burn as you stare into them from underneath him, his hips moving against yours and his tongue licking sweat from your collarbone.
No, it’s definitely not love at first sight.
It’s a distraction. Entangling yourself with him seems like an open invitation for distraction and you’d be lying to yourself if you said it wasn’t one that you needed, one that you craved.
Summary:When you, an intern for the Daily Bugle, are set out to find the person behind the mask of New York’s Spider-Man, your life turns upside down with secrets, supervillains, and a boy by the name of Peter Parker.
A/N:After putting this series on hiatus after 2 chapters and 4 years, I’m revamping it and finishing it!! While none of the Avengers are a main character, they came up sometimes so Endgame isn’t canon and no way home is mostly canon. Lemme know what y’all think!!
With the slam of a neighboring door, Peter’s eyes shoot open. He’s laid in his bed and only a few seconds pass before a sense of panic floods through him. In a swift motion, he reaches for his phone, ripping it from the charger, and sees he was supposed to be awake nearly twenty minutes ago.
He overslept. Again.
Peter shoots out of bed, annoyance consuming him as he frantically tries to get out of bed, tripping from the tangled blanket. His face nearly smacks the wood floor before he catches himself but there’s no time for a sigh as relief so he’s back to his feet in seconds, grabbing clean clothes and getting changed.
This has become somewhat of a normal experience. In high school, the whole balancing Spider-Man and school weren’t too difficult. High school was much easier but after entering college, he’s been slipping a little. More late nights as Spider-Man, patrolling and fighting crime, balancing late nights with friends, and late nights studying. His grades have been perfectly fine but his sleep schedule is an utter wreck and now he’s left constantly oversleeping and hoping he just manages to make it to class without being late.
an: this gif <3 makes my heart go wooooo, anyways sorry for the lack of updates recently!!!! im nearing the end of my school semester and trying to get the grades that i need bc im on academic probation lmfao :p love u all and i hope u enjoy this short smau :)
pairing: tom holland x fem!reader (jenna ortega fc)
Geralt needs Jaskier for a hunt. When he arrives in Oxenfurt, he receives devastating news about his bard. But a witcher’s work is never finished, and life moves on— apart from sometimes… it doesn’t.
5.3k. Rated T for swears. Contains: MCD-fakeout, hauntings, ghosts, death mentions and yes it has a happy ending.Promise.
~
It’s a shockingly warm late autumn day. Overheard, the sky is dazzlingly blue, and completely cloudless. Geralt rides unhurriedly down the wide road. He’s headed to Andole, following a missive from a pack of nobles with a problem they need dealing with discretely.Geralt’s never been discrete a day in his life, but he is efficient, and he suspects that at this stage that’s more important to his employers.
It’s a tricky little contract: a vampire disguised as a duke. Or perhaps it’s a duke disguised as a vampire. Either way, Geralt suspects it will end in bloodshed. He hates these sorts of hunts. Less tracking, and more… mingling. Asking difficult people seemingly simple questions. Arguing. It’s been a while since he’s gone through the rigmarole of it, and he’d be the first to admit that he’s woefully out of practice. If only he had someone who could—
Jaskier.Of course. He’s always been Geralt’s secret weapon for these contracts, partly because he’s much more charming and beguiling than Geralt is, and partly because—somehow—the bard seems to bloody know everyone. Andole is only a few miles East of Oxenfurt, too.
He tugs Roach’s reins around, guiding her West.
He’s not sure whereJaskier actually is, so rents a room then makes his way to the Academy. He skulks around the music hall for a moment before a man appears: a bard in a lurid yellow doublet. If anyone knows where Jaskier is, it will be this person. He has sleeves like church bells, offensive facial hair and a feather in his hat the length of Geralt’s arm.
“Jaskier?” The bard says disinterestedly, when Geralt asks where he can find him. “Oh, yes. He’s gone.”
“…Gone?”
“You know, he’s moved on. He’s in a better place.” The bard flicks the feather out of his face with a shrug. “Gone to the other side.”
As of June 22nd, ya girl is now in the top 100 best seller list on Barnes & Noble! For those who don’t know, I wrote a poetry book called Brown Clay and published with B&N but I was told I wouldn’t be in store which is what I thought I was signing up for when I published with them.
When I called my local B&N, the manager was super rude & unprofessional. He said if social media made a lot of noise about my book, & proved there is a demand for my book by getting a lot of sales, they might put my book in stores! I’m not sure how many I need, but I’ve gotten 23 sales so far!
My poetry book is about love, identity, trauma, healing, sex, wlw relationships, & Black empowerment & liberation written by a Black queer writer and it’s rare we get this type of visibility in the author industry. So please, if you’re in the US or Canada, grab a copy from Barnes & Noble’s website! For international folks, I have an ebook on my ko-fi shop
Sometimes I’m looking for something online - often “how to” articles - and I want to filter for - like - a website that was clearly built in 2010 at the latest, which may or may not have been updated since then, but contains a vast wealth of information on one topic, painstakingly organized by an unknown legend in the field with decades’ worth of experience.
I don’t want a listicle with a nice stolen picture in a slideshow format written by a content aggregator that God forgot. I want hand-drawn diagrams by some genius professor who doesn’t understand SEO at all, but understands making stir-fries or raising stick insects better than anyone else on this earth. I don’t know what search settings to put into Google to get this.
thank you for articulating this cri de coeur for me
ngl these days i’m just happy when it’s not a video
The search engine calculates a score that aggressively favors text-heavy websites, and punishes those that have too many modern web design features.
This is in a sense the opposite of what most major search engines do, they favor modern websites over old-looking ones. Most links you find here will be nearly impossible to find on a regular search engine, as they aren’t sufficiently search engine optimized.
“It is a search engine, designed to help you find what you didn’t even know you were looking for. If you search for “Plato”, you might for example end up at the Canterbury Tales. Go looking for the Canterbury Tales, and you may stumble upon Neil Gaiman’s blog.
If you are looking for fact, this is almost certainly the wrong tool. If you are looking for serendipity, you’re on the right track. When was the last time you just stumbled onto something interesting, by the way?
I don’t expect this will be the next “big” search engine. This is and will remain a niche tool for a niche audience.“
i clicked around for a few minutes searching various things and I now have two fourteenth century pie crust recipes and an apple filling recipe i want to try, so thanks!
it has been twenty minutes and I am deeply in love with this search engine.
INCREDIBLE. I *do* want to know how to test Windows 95 for Y2K Compliance and I am glad that someone is still hosting step by step instructions for that.
tl;dr: search.marginalia.nu for the old or old looking and just plain serendipitous stuff that google or Duck duck go are gonna not find/bury on the 20th page. For perfectly good reasons, but …
My absolute favorite part of having made this post - other than causing people to be introduced to this site - are the people in the tags/comments talking about their interests and stuff they found about their hobbies.
How does the brain form “fear memory” that links a traumatic event to a particular situation? A pair of researchers at the University of California, Riverside, may have found an answer.
Using a mouse model, the researchers demonstrated the formation of fear memory involves the strengthening of neural pathways between two brain areas: the hippocampus, which responds to a particular context and encodes it, and the amygdala, which triggers defensive behavior, including fear responses.
“It has been hypothesized that fear memory is formed by strengthening the connections between the hippocampus and amygdala,” said Jun-Hyeong Cho, an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular, Cell and Systems Biology and the study’s lead author. “Experimental evidence, however, has been weak. Our study now demonstrates for the first time that the formation of fear memory associated with a context indeed involves the strengthening of the connections between the hippocampus and amygdala.”
According to Cho, weakening these connections could erase the fear memory.
“Our study, therefore, also provides insights into developing therapeutic strategies to suppress maladaptive fear memories in post-traumatic stress disorder patients,” he said.
Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, affects 7% of the U.S. population. A psychiatric disorder that can occur in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event, such as war, assault, or disaster, PTSD can cause problems in daily life for months, and even years, in affected persons.
Cho explained the capability of our brains to form a fear memory associated with a situation that predicts danger is highly adaptive since it enables us to learn from our past traumatic experiences and avoid those dangerous situations in the future. This process is dysregulated, however, in PTSD, where overgeneralized and exaggerated fear responses cause symptoms including nightmares or unwanted memories of the trauma, avoidance of situations that trigger memories of the trauma, heightened reactions, anxiety, and depressed mood.
“The neural mechanism of learned fear has an enormous survival value for animals, who must predict danger from seemingly neutral contexts,” Cho said. “Suppose we had a car accident in a particular place and got severely injured. We would then feel afraid of that — or similar — place even long after we recover from the physical injury. This is because our brains form a memory that associates the car accident with the situation where we experienced the trauma. This associative memory makes us feel afraid of that, or similar, situation and we avoid such threatening situations.”
According to Cho, during the car accident, the brain processes a set of multisensory circumstances around the traumatic event, such as visual information about the place, auditory information such as a crash sound, and smells of burning materials from damaged cars. The brain then integrates these sensory signals as a highly abstract form — the context — and forms a memory that associates the traumatic event with the context.
The researchers also plan to develop strategies to suppress pathological fear memories in PTSD.
