Advances in understanding the anxiety disorders: the cognitive-affective neuroscience of 'false alarms'.

Full Abstract

BACKGROUND:
There have been significant advances in our understanding of the anxiety disorders; a range of data is now available on their epidemiology, nosology, psychobiology, and management. An integrative framework is required in order to conceptualize this data and to apply it in the clinic.

METHODS:
This is a nonsystematic review of literature on the psychobiology of some the major anxiety disorders, focused on the idea that each of these conditions can be conceptualized in terms of a different "false alarm," mediated by specific neurocircuitry and with a particular evolutionary origin.

RESULTS:
The "false alarm" concept is able to integrate a range of data on the proximal mechanisms of anxiety disorders (including their mediating neurochemistry and neurogenetics), as well as hypotheses about the distal or evolutionary underpinnings of these conditions.

CONCLUSION:
Fortunately, serotonergic antidepressants and cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy appear to be able to normalize the putative "false alarms" in anxiety disorders. A better understanding of the cognitive-affective neuroscience of anxiety disorders will hopefully lead to improved treatments.

Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills

Author information

Author/s: Stein, Dan J (DJ);

Affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa. dan.stein(-atsign-)curie.uct.ac.za

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Review

Journal: Annals of clinical psychiatry : official journal of the American Academy of Clinical Psychiatrists (Ann Clin Psychiatry), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: -2006 Jul-Sep; vol 18 (issue 3) : pp 173-82

Dates: Created 2006/08/22; Completed 2007/01/18;

PMID: 16923656, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Affect - physiology
Anxiety Disorders - diagnosis; physiopathology; psychology
Arousal - physiology
Brain - physiopathology
Brain Mapping

Brain Mapping
Cognition - physiology
Evolution
Humans
Nerve Net - physiopathology

These are the highest related articles currently in the database:

See 100+ related articles.