The role of life events and HPA axis in anxiety disorders: a review

• Published in: Current pharmaceutical design Vol. 18; no. 35; p. 5663
• Main Authors: Faravelli, Carlo, Lo Sauro, Carolina, Lelli, Lorenzo, Pietrini, Francesco, Lazzeretti, Lisa, Godini, Lucia, Benni, Laura, Fioravanti, Giulia, Talamba, Gabriela Alina, Castellini, Giovanni, Ricca, Valdo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United Arab Emirates 2012
• Subjects: Adult; Animals; Anxiety Disorders - etiology; Anxiety Disorders - physiopathology; Child; Humans; Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System - pathology; Life Change Events; Pituitary-Adrenal System - metabolism; Pituitary-Adrenal System - pathology; Stress, Physiological; Stress, Psychological - complications
• ISSN: 1873-4286
• DOI: 10.2174/138161212803530907

Stressful life events and dysfunctional Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal (HPA) axis have been implicated in the pathogenesis of psychiatric disorders, including anxiety disorders. This paper attempts to review the existing literature on childhood traumata, recent life events, HPA axis functioning and their relationship in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Panic Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Social Phobia. Preclinical and clinical models will be analyzed. Stressful life events seem to have a role in the onset and in the course of these disorders and HPA axis abnormalities have been reported in almost all anxiety disorders. The hypothesis that early stressful life events may provoke alterations of the stress response and thus of the HPA axis, that can endure during adulthood, predisposing individuals to develop psychopathology, will be evaluated.