A Pilot Study of Anterior Cingulate Cortex Neurochemistry in Adolescents with Generalized Anxiety Disorder

2013 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 224-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey R. Strawn ◽  
Wen-Jang Chu ◽  
Rachel M. Whitsel ◽  
Wade A. Weber ◽  
Matthew M. Norris ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Generalized Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Generalized Anxiety

Attenuated responses to emotional expressions in women with generalized anxiety disorder

2010 ◽  
Vol 41 (5) ◽  
pp. 1009-1018 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. E. Palm ◽  
R. Elliott ◽  
S. McKie ◽  
J. F. W. Deakin ◽  
I. M. Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Generalized Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Generalized Anxiety ◽  
Bold Signal

BackgroundGeneralized anxiety disorder (GAD) is under-researched despite its high prevalence and large impact on the healthcare system. There is a paucity of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies that explore the neural correlates of emotional processing in GAD. The present study investigated the blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) response to processing positive and negative facial emotions in patients with GAD.MethodA total of 15 female GAD patients and 16 female controls undertook an implicit face emotion task during fMRI scanning. They also performed a face emotion recognition task outside the scanner.ResultsThe only behavioural difference observed in GAD patients was less accurate detection of sad facial expressions compared with control participants. However, GAD patients showed an attenuated BOLD signal in the prefrontal cortex to fearful, sad, angry and happy facial expressions and an attenuated signal in the anterior cingulate cortex to happy and fearful facial expressions. No differences were found in amygdala response.ConclusionsIn contrast with previous research, this study found BOLD signal attenuation in the ventrolateral and medial prefrontal cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex during face emotion processing, consistent with a hypothesis of hypo-responsivity to external emotional stimuli in GAD. These decreases were in areas that have been implicated in emotion and cognition and may reflect an altered balance between internally and externally directed attentional processes.

Interpersonal subtypes and change of interpersonal problems in the treatment of patients with generalized anxiety disorder: A pilot study.

Psychotherapy ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 304-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Salzer ◽  
Aaron L. Pincus ◽  
Christel Winkelbach ◽  
Falk Leichsenring ◽  
Eric Leibing
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Generalized Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Interpersonal Problems ◽  
Generalized Anxiety

scholarly journals Illness Severity Moderated Association Between Trait Anxiety and Amygdala-Based Functional Connectivity in Generalized Anxiety Disorder

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Du ◽  
Hailong Li ◽  
Hongqi Xiao ◽  
Mei Wang ◽  
Wei Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Generalized Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Trait Anxiety ◽  
Symptom Severity ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Illness Severity ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Generalized Anxiety ◽  
Significant Group

Trait anxiety is considered a vulnerability factor for the development of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). The amygdala is related to both trait anxiety and GAD. Thus, we investigated amygdala-based functional connectivity (FC) in drug-naive non-comorbid GAD patients and explored its associations with personality, symptoms, and illness severity. FC analyses using the bilateral amygdala as seeds were performed with resting-state functional MRI data from 38 GAD patients and 20 matched healthy controls (HCs). Clinical characteristics were correlated with FC Z-scores from regions showing significant group differences. Furthermore, moderation analyses were used to explore the conditional effect of illness severity measured by the Clinical Global Impression–Severity (CGI-S) scale on the relationship between FC and trait anxiety. Relative to HCs, GAD patients showed hypoconnectivity between the amygdala and the rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC), inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), parahippocampal gyrus, and cerebellum and hyperconnectivity between the amygdala and the superior temporal gyrus (STG), insula, and postcentral gyrus. In GAD patients, amygdala–rACC connectivity was negatively associated with symptom severity and trait anxiety, and amygdala–IFG connectivity was positively associated with symptom severity. Moreover, CGI-S scores moderated the negative correlation between trait anxiety and amygdala–rACC FC. We demonstrate that there is extensive amygdala-based network dysfunction in patients with GAD. More importantly, amygdala–rACC connectivity plays a key role in the neural pathology of trait anxiety. Finally, the more severe the illness, the stronger the negative association between trait anxiety and amygdala–rACC FC. Our results emphasize the importance of personalized intervention in GAD.

scholarly journals Anticipatory Activation in the Amygdala and Anterior Cingulate in Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Prediction of Treatment Response

2009 ◽  
Vol 166 (3) ◽  
pp. 302-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack B. Nitschke ◽  
Issidoros Sarinopoulos ◽  
Desmond J. Oathes ◽  
Tom Johnstone ◽  
Paul J. Whalen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Treatment Response ◽  
Generalized Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Generalized Anxiety ◽  
Anticipatory Activation

Directed threat imagery in generalized anxiety disorder

2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 617-628 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Buff ◽  
C. Schmidt ◽  
L. Brinkmann ◽  
B. Gathmann ◽  
S. Tupak ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Generalized Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Emotional Reactivity ◽  
Behavioral Therapy ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Generalized Anxiety ◽  
Initial Exposure

BackgroundWorrying has been suggested to prevent emotional and elaborative processing of fears. In cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) patients are exposed to their fears during the method of directed threat imagery by inducing emotional reactivity. However, studies investigating neural correlates of directed threat imagery and emotional reactivity in GAD patients are lacking. The present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study aimed at delineating neural correlates of directed threat imagery in GAD patients.MethodNineteen GAD patients and 19 healthy controls (HC) were exposed to narrative scripts of either disorder-related or neutral content and were encouraged to imagine it as vividly as possible.ResultsRating results showed that GAD patients experienced disorder-related scripts as more anxiety inducing and arousing than HC. These results were also reflected in fMRI data: Disorder-related v. neutral scripts elicited elevated activity in the amygdala, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and the thalamus as well as reduced activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex/subgenual anterior cingulate cortex in GAD patients relative to HC.ConclusionThe present study presents the first behavioral and neural evidence for emotional reactivity during directed threat imagery in GAD. The brain activity pattern suggests an involvement of a fear processing network as a neural correlate of initial exposure during directed imagery in CBT in GAD.

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