I am researching, heavily for two books I am writing. The general area is anxiety and fear. In the seventh book I am reading I found some interesting information about the amygdala. It is part of our brain and there are two of them, a left one and a right one.
They work together to process emotions.
Here is what I found to be interesting:
Right amygdala: processes fear, sadness and anxiety. Also processes declarative and episodic memories.
Left amygdala: processes fear, sadness and anxiety, plus happiness and joy. Develops about two years earlier than the right amygdala.
Both have many androgen receptors that respond to testosterone.
Sex differences:
Females develop their amygdala much earlier than males.
Males have much larger amygdala than females.
The left amygdala in gay men very closely resembles the left amygdala in herosexual women.
Lesbians have amygdala that closely resemble the amygdala in heterosexual men.
None of this has anything to do with the books I am writing. Still, I found it very interesting.
Some of you know I had a moving experience with a female friend whose daughter decided she could no longer live as a female. She planned to kill herself.
My friend spent more than an hour in anguish with me. What should she do? This mother would rather have a live son than a dead daughter. Her daughter said she thinks of herself as a male with male thoughts and emotions.
So the mother supported her daughter (and now, years later, son). I did not understand it then. Maybe I understand it a bit more now.