Project Summary

Jack B. Nitschke, Ph.D. (Young Investigator 2005) of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, proposes using imaging to understand how brain regions normally associated with avoiding danger and fear may be altered in people who have social phobias. Anticipating aversion, danger, and other unpleasant circumstances helps prepare for and prevent negative outcomes. But anticipatory processing is excessive in some mental illness, especially anxiety and depression, and causes significant suffering. Previous research from Dr. Nitschke identified key brain regions involved in anticipating negative events, including the amygdala, insula, prefrontal cortex, and anterior cingulate. These brain areas detect threat, evaluate negative stimuli, represent negative affect, and monitor autonomic activity. The proposed research builds on this work by investigating the abnormalities in these circuits in people with affective disorders. Neuroimaging research with social phobics has reported irregularities in the brain areas found in Dr. Nitschke’s studies. But social phobics often suffer from depression, and depressed patients exhibit abnormalities in some of the same areas, including the amygdala, prefrontal cortex, and anterior cingulate. To determine the relative influence of social phobia and depression on the identified circuitry for anticipating aversion, the proposed project will study social phobics without depression, social phobics with depression, and depressed patients without social phobia. Results may encourage treatments for anxiety to place greater emphasis on problems with anticipation and the brain substrates involved.

Program Area: MULTIPLE FOCUS AREAS\Anxiety Disorders/Unipolar Depression

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