Within-session effect of repeated stress exposure on extinction circuitry function in social anxiety disorder
Anxiety reduction following repeated exposure to stressful experiences is generally held to depend on neural processes involved in extinction of conditioned fear. We predicted that repeated exposure to stressful experiences would change activity throughout the circuitry serving extinction, including ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), the hippocampus and the amygdala. To test this prediction, 36 participants diagnosed with SAD performed two successive speeches in front of an observing audience while regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was recorded using positron emission tomography.
Source: Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging - Category: Psychiatry Authors: Fredrik Åhs, Malin Gingnell, Tomas Furmark, Mats Fredrikson Source Type: research