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Published on: September 12, 2014
Neural correlates of speech anticipatory anxiety in generalized social phobia
Jeffrey P Lorberbaum1, Samet Kose, Michael R Johnson
1Department of Psychiatry and Center for Advanced Imaging, Medical University of South Carolina Charleston (MUSC), SC 29425, USA. lorberjp@musc.edu
Abstract:
Patients with generalized social phobia fear embarrassment in most social situations. Little is known about its functional neuroanatomy. We studied BOLD-fMRI brain activity while generalized social phobics and healthy controls anticipated making public speeches. With anticipation minus rest, 8 phobics compared to 6 controls showed greater subcortical, limbic, and lateral paralimbic activity (pons, striatum, amygdala/uncus/anterior parahippocampus, insula, temporal pole)--regions important in automatic emotional processing--and less cortical activity (dorsal anterior cingulate/prefrontal cortex)--regions important in cognitive processing. Phobics may become so anxious, they cannot think clearly or vice versa.
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