Serotonin and dopamine transporter availability in social anxiety disorder after combined treatment with escitalopram and cognitive-behavioral therapy.

ABSTRACT: Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (ICBT) are recommended treatments of social anxiety disorder (SAD), and often combined, but their effects on monoaminergic signaling are not well understood. In this multi-tracer positron emission tomography (PET) study, 24 patients with SAD were randomized to treatment with escitalopram+ICBT or placebo+ICBT under double-blind conditions. Before and after 9 weeks of treatment, patients were examined with positron emission tomography and the radioligands [¹¹C]DASB and [¹¹C]PE2I, probing the serotonin (SERT) and dopamine (DAT) transporter proteins respectively. Both treatment combinations resulted in significant improvement as measured by the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (L

SUBMITTER: Hjorth O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9537299 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature