Of 'disgrace' and 'pain'--corticolimbic interaction patterns for disorder-relevant and emotional words in social phobia.

ABSTRACT: Limbic hyperactivation and an impaired functional interplay between the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex are discussed to go along with, or even cause, pathological anxiety. Within the multi-faceted group of anxiety disorders, the highly prevalent social phobia (SP) is characterized by excessive fear of being negatively evaluated. Although there is widespread evidence for amygdala hypersensitivity to emotional faces in SP, verbal material has rarely been used in imaging studies, in particular with an eye on disorder-specificity. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a block design consisting of (1) overall negative, (2) social-phobia related, (3) positive, and (4) neutral words, we studied 25 female patients with social phobia and 25 healthy female control subjects (HC).

SUBMITTER: Laeger I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4232246 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature