Researchers have successfully tested magnetic brain stimulation on women with severe anxiety disorders.
Magnetic stimulation of the frontal region of the brain helps fight anxiety, according to a new study published in the JAMA. Incidentally, this demonstrates that the prefrontal region of the cortex is the area that controls the reaction to threat, and allows a better understanding of the mechanisms of anxiety.
Until now, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) had already been the subject of clinical studies for the treatment of major depressive disorder. However, the mechanisms of action were unclear, and neuroimaging evidence was lacking, particularly in people with anxiety. Moreover, there was no direct causal evidence in humans that the prefrontal-amygdala circuit functions as described in animal models.
Two medical imaging sessions
To advance these facts, 18 women suffering from pathological anxiety, aged 18 to 42, underwent two medical imaging sessions. A first group underwent real transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), while the others underwent a sham procedure. Each intervention was immediately followed by a functional imaging examination during which the participants performed distressing exercises. Data was collected from May 7 to October 6, 2015.
Compared to sham stimulation, DLPFC stimulation significantly reduced amygdala reactivity, an area that primes the brain to anticipate the sensation of fear or threat, and simultaneously increased activity in cortical regions associated with attentional control. A distinction is made between motor cortical areas responsible for motricity, sensory cortical areas allowing sensory perception and associative cortical areas, which integrate sensory information. A cortical area corresponds to the motor or sensory zone of the cortex, that is to say to a zone of arrival and departure of motor or sensory nerve fibres.
How to distinguish normal anxiety from anxiety disorder?
That “prefrontal stimulation significantly increases attentional control signals and reduces amygdala reactivity may uncover a neurocognitive mechanism potentially capable of contributing to tDCS treatment effects in affective disorders,” the authors conclude.
The two criteria used to distinguish normal anxiety from an anxiety disorder are personal suffering and difficulty functioning. If the anxiety is so strong that it causes constant concern, or affects the ability to live normally, at work, in society or in other areas, then the anxiety is considered a disorder.
Anxiety disorders are a group of psychological problems seen more frequently in women than in men, the symptoms of which include excessive anxiety, feelings of fear, worry, and avoidance and compulsive behaviors. Anxiety disorders include several disorders:
– panic attacks;
– obsessive-compulsive neurosis;
– social phobia;
– generalized anxiety disorder;
– specific phobia (simple phobia);
– post-traumatic stress syndrome (fear following a traumatic event).
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