Neuroimaging in anxiety disorders
1Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
Modern Trends in Pharmacopsychiatry
|September 17, 2014
Summary
Anxiety disorders show heightened amygdala reactivity, particularly in phobias and PTSD. Effective treatments, including psychological therapy, reduce this neural activity, suggesting a common pathway for fear network regulation.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Medical Imaging
Background:
- Anxiety disorders involve altered emotional processing.
- Neuroimaging techniques like fMRI, PET, and SPECT are crucial for studying brain function in these conditions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review neuroimaging findings in anxiety disorders.
- To meta-analyze symptom provocation studies to understand prefrontal modulation of amygdala activity.
Main Methods:
- Meta-analysis of neuroimaging (fMRI, PET, SPECT) studies.
- Focus on symptom provocation paradigms in phobia and PTSD.
Main Results:
- Enhanced amygdala reactivity observed in phobia and PTSD patients.
- Dorsal anterior cingulate cortex activation correlated with amygdala in fear expression.
- Compromised activity in ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) in symptomatic states.
- Psychological treatment normalized amygdala hyperactivity.
Conclusions:
- Reduced amygdala activity is a potential common pathway for successful anxiety disorder treatments.
- This highlights the link between neurotransmission, plasticity, and the brain's fear network.
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