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A Preliminary Investigation of Neural Correlates of Treatment in Adolescents with Generalized Anxiety Disorder

A Preliminary Investigation of Neural Correlates of Treatment in Adolescents with Generalized Anxiety Disorder
A Preliminary Investigation of Neural Correlates of Treatment in Adolescents with Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Objective: Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a prevalent and debilitating psychiatric condition of adolescence. Two effective forms of treatment are cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). This pilot study examined changes in brain function following each type of treatment in GAD.

Method: Subjects were 14 youths with GAD (7 had CBT, 7 received fluoxetine) and 10 age- and gender-matched healthy peers. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans were acquired before and after treatment for patients and over two comparable time points for controls. During fMRI acquisition, a probe detection task with emotional (angry, happy) and neutral faces allowed for assessment of neural response to threat. Following previous research, region of interest analyses were performed in the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC).

Results: fMRI results showed increased right VLPFC activation, relative to controls, in the medication (t(15) = 3.01, p < 0.01) and CBT (t(15) = 3.22, p < 0.01) groups following treatment.

Conclusions: This study shows significant increase in right VLPFC activation in response to angry faces following treatment with CBT or fluoxetine for GAD. This is consistent with previous research indicating that the VLPFC may facilitate effective responding to underlying neural correlates of anxiety in other brain regions, such as the amygdala.
PREFRONTAL CORTEX ACTIVATION, COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL THERAPY, CHILDHOOD ANXIETY, FUNCTIONAL NEUROANATOMY, DEPRESSIVE-DISORDERS, MAJOR DEPRESSION, SOCIAL PHOBIA, ANGRY FACES, CHILDREN, PSYCHOTHERAPY
1044-5463
105-111
Maslowsky, Julie
4f98c414-b817-4d04-a49b-6dafc08e06db
Mogg, Karin
5f1474af-85f5-4fd3-8eb6-0371be848e30
Bradley, Brendan P.
bdacaa6c-528b-4086-9448-27ebfe463514
McClure-Tone, Erin
292a20bd-9d37-4c7d-a3ef-3885f5c9a1f4
Ernst, Monique
3906e5f6-2105-48af-9b78-a00482acac1c
Pine, Daniel S.
debffc1c-1efc-4bcf-81b3-87aadee1047d
Monk, Christopher S.
ac508cb8-4ce2-4653-a746-be909af175a4
Maslowsky, Julie
4f98c414-b817-4d04-a49b-6dafc08e06db
Mogg, Karin
5f1474af-85f5-4fd3-8eb6-0371be848e30
Bradley, Brendan P.
bdacaa6c-528b-4086-9448-27ebfe463514
McClure-Tone, Erin
292a20bd-9d37-4c7d-a3ef-3885f5c9a1f4
Ernst, Monique
3906e5f6-2105-48af-9b78-a00482acac1c
Pine, Daniel S.
debffc1c-1efc-4bcf-81b3-87aadee1047d
Monk, Christopher S.
ac508cb8-4ce2-4653-a746-be909af175a4

Maslowsky, Julie, Mogg, Karin, Bradley, Brendan P., McClure-Tone, Erin, Ernst, Monique, Pine, Daniel S. and Monk, Christopher S. (2010) A Preliminary Investigation of Neural Correlates of Treatment in Adolescents with Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology, 20 (2), 105-111. (doi:10.1089/cap.2009.0049).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Objective: Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a prevalent and debilitating psychiatric condition of adolescence. Two effective forms of treatment are cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). This pilot study examined changes in brain function following each type of treatment in GAD.

Method: Subjects were 14 youths with GAD (7 had CBT, 7 received fluoxetine) and 10 age- and gender-matched healthy peers. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans were acquired before and after treatment for patients and over two comparable time points for controls. During fMRI acquisition, a probe detection task with emotional (angry, happy) and neutral faces allowed for assessment of neural response to threat. Following previous research, region of interest analyses were performed in the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC).

Results: fMRI results showed increased right VLPFC activation, relative to controls, in the medication (t(15) = 3.01, p < 0.01) and CBT (t(15) = 3.22, p < 0.01) groups following treatment.

Conclusions: This study shows significant increase in right VLPFC activation in response to angry faces following treatment with CBT or fluoxetine for GAD. This is consistent with previous research indicating that the VLPFC may facilitate effective responding to underlying neural correlates of anxiety in other brain regions, such as the amygdala.

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More information

Submitted date: 5 November 2009
Published date: 23 November 2010
Keywords: PREFRONTAL CORTEX ACTIVATION, COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL THERAPY, CHILDHOOD ANXIETY, FUNCTIONAL NEUROANATOMY, DEPRESSIVE-DISORDERS, MAJOR DEPRESSION, SOCIAL PHOBIA, ANGRY FACES, CHILDREN, PSYCHOTHERAPY

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 69414
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/69414
ISSN: 1044-5463
PURE UUID: 35fc85a7-a782-4987-9117-69b4b0da0cd2
ORCID for Brendan P. Bradley: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-2801-4271

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Date deposited: 05 Nov 2009
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 02:45

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Contributors

Author: Julie Maslowsky
Author: Karin Mogg
Author: Erin McClure-Tone
Author: Monique Ernst
Author: Daniel S. Pine
Author: Christopher S. Monk

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