Abstract
The amygdala-based fear circuit involved in mediating fear conditioning and anxiety symptoms appears to also be implicated in social anxiety disorder (SAD). Imaging literature in SAD using PET and SPECT provides encouraging support for this model. The provocation of anxiety in SAD sufferers by a variety of substances may point to nonspecific activation of such a circuit, though to a lesser degree than in panic disorder. Differences in the particular anxiety symptoms experienced by subjects may, however, point to more specific circuits being involved in SAD, although this suggestion is not yet substantiated by the imaging literature. Convincing evidence now implicates limbic structures in fear conditioning that play a role in mediating social anxiety, and that effective pharmacotherapy and cognitive behavioural therapy alter activity in these areas and perhaps also in circuits related to fear extinction. Future work to determine the functioning of specific neurotransmitter and neurochemical systems in general fear circuits using novel ligands provides hope for the translation of such work to the clinic.
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Warwick, J.M., Stein, D.J., Carey, P. (2004). Functional Neuroimaging in Social Anxiety Disorder. In: Otte, A., Audenaert, K., Peremans, K., van Heeringen, K., Dierckx, R.A. (eds) Nuclear Medicine in Psychiatry. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-18773-5_22
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-18773-5_22
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