Magnetic resonance imaging in social phobia

Structural magnetic ressonance imaging in anxiety disorders: an update of research findings

“…10 In that ROI-based study, the authors found no differences between patients and healthy controls regarding the measures of the total brain, putamen, caudate, and thalamus. 85 As our earlier observation, 10 the present review notes the scarce number of morphometric MRI studies on SAD and specific phobias with no paper being published in the last five years in such disorders. Once again, it is surprising that SAD, one of the most frequent anxiety disorders in the general population which causes important functional impairments, was not investigated during this period.…”

“…The detection of a reduction of the amygdala is in agreement with general theories that relate this region to the mechanisms of recognition and learning in threatening or dangerous situations. 40,62 So far, only one structural neuroimaging study 85 has evaluated the volume of brain structures in patients with SAD, as highlighted in our former review. 10 In that ROI-based study, the authors found no differences between patients and healthy controls regarding the measures of the total brain, putamen, caudate, and thalamus.…”

The investigation of hippocampus and amygdala volume changes with MRI in patients with social anxiety disorder

“…In recent years, functional MRI, perfusion MRI, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), MRI spectroscopy, single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), positron emission tomography (PET), and magnetic encephalography have been widely used. 2,[14][15][16][17] The first MRI study on SAD was conducted by Pott et al 18 who reported no significant differences in the cerebral, caudate, putamen, and thalamic volumes in the patient and control groups of 20 individuals. On the other hand, Milham et al 19 used MRI voxel-based morphometry and demonstrated a decrease only in the left amygdala in nine of the 17 patients diagnosed with SAD.…”

Soziale Phobie

“…Stein et al (1994) fanden hingegen Anzeichen für eine verminderte parasympathische Aktivität und nicht eine erhöhte sympathische Aktivität. Mit dem α 2 -adrenergen Agonisten Yohimbin konnte soziale Angst erhöht werden (Potts et al 1994). Dass Adrenalininfusionen jedoch zu keiner Erhö-hung der Angst führten (Papp et al 1988), deutet darauf hin, dass der Plasmaspiegel von Adrenalin allein nicht verantwortlich für soziale Angst sein kann.…”

“…In einer Studie mit Magnetresonanzspektroskopie (MRS) konnten Davidson et al (1993) Veränderungen in subkortikalen, kortikalen und thalamischen Bereichen sowie im Nucleus caudatus zeigen, die sie als mögliche neuronale Atrophie und Degeneration interpretierten. Potts et al (1994) konnten in einer weiteren MRS-Studie zeigen, dass Patienten mit sozialer Phobie im Unterschied zu Vergleichspersonen eine stärkere Abnahme im Volumen des Putamens während des Alterns vorwiesen.…”