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Ventromedial prefrontal cortex activity and pathological worry in generalised anxiety disorder
- Source :
- BRITISH JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY, r-FSJD: Repositorio Institucional de Producción Científica de la Fundació Sant Joan de Déu, Fundació Sant Joan de Déu, r-FSJD. Repositorio Institucional de Producción Científica de la Fundació Sant Joan de Déu, instname
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- ROYAL COLLEGE OF PSYCHIATRISTS, 2018.
-
Abstract
- BackgroundPathological worry is a hallmark feature of generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), associated with dysfunctional emotional processing. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) is involved in the regulation of such processes, but the link between vmPFC emotional responses and pathological v. adaptive worry has not yet been examined.AimsTo study the association between worry and vmPFC activity evoked by the processing of learned safety and threat signals.MethodIn total, 27 unmedicated patients with GAD and 56 healthy controls (HC) underwent a differential fear conditioning paradigm during functional magnetic resonance imaging.ResultsCompared to HC, the GAD group demonstrated reduced vmPFC activation to safety signals and no safety–threat processing differentiation. This response was positively correlated with worry severity in GAD, whereas the same variables showed a negative and weak correlation in HC.ConclusionsPoor vmPFC safety–threat differentiation might characterise GAD, and its distinctive association with GAD worries suggests a neural-based qualitative difference between healthy and pathological worries.Declaration of interestNone.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Male
Adolescent
media_common.quotation_subject
medicine.medical_treatment
Ventromedial prefrontal cortex
Prefrontal Cortex
Anxiety
Brain mapping
Young Adult
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
medicine
Humans
Fear conditioning
Prefrontal cortex
Pathological
media_common
Brain Mapping
business.industry
Anxiety Disorders
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
030227 psychiatry
Cognitive behavioral therapy
Psychiatry and Mental health
medicine.anatomical_structure
Case-Control Studies
Female
Worry
medicine.symptom
business
Neuroscience
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 00071250
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- BRITISH JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY, r-FSJD: Repositorio Institucional de Producción Científica de la Fundació Sant Joan de Déu, Fundació Sant Joan de Déu, r-FSJD. Repositorio Institucional de Producción Científica de la Fundació Sant Joan de Déu, instname
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....a3e0cbcd3f06ec30501591d233b076ec