Amygdala activation and symptom dimensions in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Esther Via1, Narcís Cardoner, Jesús Pujol

  • 1Esther Via, MD, Department of Psychiatry, Bellvitge University Hospital-IDIBELL, Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain, and Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry & Melbourne Health, The University of Melbourne, National Neuroscience Facility, Melbourne, Australia; Narcís Cardoner, MD, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Bellvitge University Hospital-IDIBELL, Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain, Carlos III Health Institute, CIBERSAM, Spain and Department of Clinical Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Jesús Pujol, MD, MRI Research Unit, CRC Mar, Hospital de Mar, Barcelona, Spain; Pino Alonso, MD, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Bellvitge University Hospital-IDIBELL, Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain, Carlos III Health Institute, CIBERSAM, Spain, and Department of Clinical Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Marina López-Solà, PhD, MRI Research Unit, CRC Mar, Hospital de Mar, Barcelona, Spain and Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA; Eva Real, MD, Department of Psychiatry, Bellvitge University Hospital-IDIBELL, Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain and Carlos III Health Institute, CIBERSAM, Spain; Oren Contreras-Rodríguez, PhD, Carlos III Health Institute, CIBERSAM, Spain and MRI Research Unit, CRC Mar, Hospital de Mar, Barcelona, Spain; Joan Deus, PhD, MRI Research Unit, CRC Mar, Hospital de Mar, Barcelona, and Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Cinto Segalàs, MD, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Bellvitge University Hospital-IDIBELL, Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain, and Carlos III Health Institute, CIBERSAM, Spain; José M. Menchón, MD, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Bellvitge University Hospital-IDIBELL, Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain, Carlos III Health Institute, CIBERSAM, Spain, and Department of Clini

Summary

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptom dimensions, particularly aggression/checking and sexual/religious, are linked to increased amygdala activation when viewing fearful faces. This suggests specific OCD subtypes involve abnormal fear processing.

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