Health is a unity and harmony within the mind, body and spirit which is unique to each person, and is as defined by that person. The level of wellness or health is, in part, determined by the ability to deal with and defend against stress. Health is determined by physiological, psychological, socio-cultural, spiritual, and developmental stage variables.
Brain activity reflects differences in types of anxiety
Anxiety :: Brain activity reflects differences in types of anxiety
All anxiety is not created equal, and a research team at the University of Illinois now has the data to prove it.Their work appears this month online in Psychophysiology.
"This study looks at two facets of anxiety that often are not distinguished," said U. of I. psychology professor Gregory A. Miller, co-principal investigator on the study with psychology professor Wendy Heller. "We had reason to think there were different brain mechanisms, different parts of the brain active at different times, depending on what type of anxiety one is facing."
According to a recent national survey, anxiety disorders are the most commonly reported psychiatric disorders in the U.S. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders classifies nearly a dozen different anxiety disorders, from acute stress disorder to obsessive-compulsive disorder to panic attack and PTSD. But those who study and treat patients with anxiety disorders do not always differentiate the patients who worry, fret and ruminate from those who experience the panic, rapid heartbeat or bouts of sweating that characterize anxious arousal. These two kinds of anxiety may occur alone or in combination, with potentially important implications for treatment.
To test whether neural activation patterns supported the hypothesis that these two categories of anxiety are distinct, the researchers selected 42 subjects from a pool of 1,099 undergraduate college students, using psychological tests to categorize them as "high anxious apprehension," "high anxious arousal," or neither.
Other psychological assessments standardized the pool of participants by removing those with mood disorders or other complicating factors.
The researchers used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to map the brain areas with heightened neural activity during a variety of psychological probes.
As the researchers had predicted, the anxious apprehension group exhibited enhanced left-brain activity and the anxious arousal group had heightened activity in the right brain. The anxious apprehension group showed increased activity in a region of the left inferior frontal lobe that is associated with speech production. The anxious arousal group had more activity in a region of the right-hemisphere inferior temporal lobe that is believed to be involved in tracking and responding to information signaling danger.
Other studies using electroencephalographic (EEG) methods had found that patients diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder had heightened activity in the left brain, whereas patients with panic disorder, panic symptoms or those subjected to high stress situations exhibited enhanced activity in the right hemisphere.
This is the first study, however, to localize the affected regions to identify areas within each hemisphere that seem to matter.
Miller stressed the importance of a related finding: The researchers distinguished the left-brain region involved in anxious apprehension from a nearby structure that is associated with positive emotional processing.
"Left and right is not the only distinction we made," Miller said. "We did left/right comparisons with groups, but we also did comparisons within the left hemisphere to show that these different areas are doing different things."
"This is biological validation of the proposal of the psychological differentiation of types of anxiety," Miller said. "Whether you want to treat anxiety psychologically or biologically ? and we know that either type of intervention affects both the psychology and the biology of the person ? these findings are a reminder that you might want to assess people carefully before you embark on a particular type of treatment."
(Anxiety :: Brain activity reflects differences in types of anxiety published at SpiritIndia on Tuesday, May 29, 2007)
Anxiety
Search more information on Anxiety, Anxiety booksRecently posted related articles on Anxiety :
- Depression :: High pressure jobs linked to depression and anxiety
- Psychology :: Separation anxiety in young children
- Depression :: Girls who complain about their problems at greater risk of developing anxiety and depression
- Anxiety :: SAD? Virtual Reality therapy can help
- Stress :: Rescue Remedy is an effective all-natural stress, anxiety reliever
- Anxiety :: Now anxious people can counsel themselves
- Anxiety :: New insights into the neural basis of anxiety
- Anxiety :: Brain activity reflects differences in types of anxiety
- Stress :: Improving communication with families of dying patients reduces stress, anxiety and depression
- Anxiety :: Anxiety hikes risk of heart attack, death
Most related articles:
- Anxiety :: Brain activity reflects differences in types of anxiety- Anorexia Nervosa :: Brain Serotonin Could Link Anxiety, Anorexia - 11.7
- Heart Disease :: Yoga, meditation, exercise reduces stress n anxiety - 10.4
- Mood Swings :: Scientists find hormone activity explains adolescent mood swings - 10.1
- Anxiety :: Tension, anxiety - physical syndrome - 10
- Depression :: Association between depression and physical illnesses - 9.7
- Stress :: Childhood stress leads to depressive and anxiety disorders - 8.8
- Anxiety :: Anxiety Attack Management - 8.8
- Sleep :: Reduced sleep quality can aggravate pre-existing psychological conditions - 8.8
- Anorexia Nervosa :: Serotonin activity linked with anorexia nervosa - 8.7
Anxiety - recent related articles/news stories:
- 15% preschoolers have high levels of depression and anxiety- Exercise improves ability in rheumatoid arthritis patients
- Children of anxious parents need help too
- Music reduces stress in heart disease patients
- Babies born to anxious depressed women sleep poorly
»» Psychology :: Workplace bullying 50 percent higher in the US than Scandinavia
«« Alzheimer's Disease :: Blood inflammation plays role in Alzheimer's disease
The information provided on SpiritIndia.com is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her physician. Spirit India comply with the HONcode principles for trustworthy health information.
Health, Business, Science, Sports, Entertainment, Technology
©2002-2009 SpiritIndia.com
Health, Business, Science, Sports, Entertainment, Technology
©2002-2009 SpiritIndia.com