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about Anxiety Disorders
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- Anxious and Depressed Teens and Adults: Same Version of Mood Gene, Different Brain Reactions
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December 2, 2008
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Science Update
An NIMH study using brain imaging shows that some anxious and depressed adolescents react differently from adult patients when looking at frightening faces.
- Cells May Provide Target for New Anxiety Medications
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November 6, 2008
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Science Update
A specific population of brain cells could provide a target for developing new medications aimed at helping people learn to mute the fears underlying anxiety disorders, according to NIMH-supported scientists.
- Anxious and Healthy Adolescents Respond Differently to an Anxiety-provoking Situation
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November 5, 2008
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Science Update
Brain scans show heightened activity among anxious adolescents exposed to an anxiety-provoking situation when compared with normal controls.
- Study Identifies Three Effective Treatments for Childhood Anxiety Disorders
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October 30, 2008
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Press Release
Treatment that combines a certain type of psychotherapy with an antidepressant medication is most likely to help children with anxiety disorders, but each of the treatments alone is also effective.
- Emotion-Regulating Circuit Weakened in Borderline Personality Disorder
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October 2, 2008
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Science Update
Differences in the working tissue of the brain, called grey matter, have been linked to impaired functioning of an emotion-regulating circuit in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD). People with BPD had excess grey matter in a fear hub deep in the brain, which over-activated when they viewed scary faces. By contrast, the hub’s regulator near the front of the brain was deficient in grey matter and underactive, effectively taking the brakes off a runaway fear response, suggest researchers supported in part by NIMH.
- Anxious Youth Have Disturbed Brain Responses When Looking at Angry Faces
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June 20, 2008
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Science Update
When looking at angry faces so quickly that they are hardly aware of seeing them, youth with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) have unchecked activity in the brain’s fear center, say NIMH researchers.
- Imaging Identifies Brain Regions and Chemicals Underlying Mood Disorders; May Lead to Better Treatments
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May 6, 2008
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Science Update
Recently developed imaging techniques allow the mapping of the brain circuits and chemical systems believed responsible for a range of mood abnormalities including depression and bipolar disorder, and hold promise for improved treatments, scientists say.
- Medication-Enhanced Learning in Therapy Hailed as “Paradigm Shift” for Anxiety
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May 1, 2008
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Science Update
A medication that enhances learning, taken just before an exposure therapy session, may aid cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) for anxiety disorders, say NIMH-funded researchers, who adapted the technique from studies in rats.
- Human Brain Appears “Hard-Wired” for Hierarchy
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April 23, 2008
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Press Release
Human imaging studies have for the first time identified brain circuitry associated with social status, according to researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) of the National Institutes of Health.
- Journal Highlights Effectiveness of Research Based Psychotherapies for Youth
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April 15, 2008
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Science Update
Reviews of the current research on psychosocial and behavioral therapies, or psychotherapies, for children and adolescents found a number of “well established” and “probably efficacious” treatments for many mental disorders. The results were published in a special issue of the Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology.
