Unstable Prefrontal Response to Emotional Conflict and Activation of Lower Limbic Structures and Brainstem in Remitted Panic Disorder

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 4; no. 5; p. e5537
• Main Authors: Chechko, Natalya, Wehrle, Renate, Erhardt, Angelika, Holsboer, Florian, Czisch, Michael, Sämann, Philipp G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 20.05.2009; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Activation; Adult; Amygdala; Anxiety; Anxiety - complications; Attentional bias; Bias; Brain; Brain mapping; Brain stem; Brain Stem - physiopathology; Case-Control Studies; Conditioning; Conflict (Psychology); Cortex (cingulate); Cues; Demography; Emotions; Emotions - physiology; Fear; Fear & phobias; Fear conditioning; Female; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Humans; Interference; Limbic System - physiopathology; Magnetic resonance; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Medical research; Medicine, Experimental; Mental Health/Anxiety Disorders; Neuroimaging; Neuroscience; Neuroscience/Psychology; Oxygenation; Panic; Panic attacks; Panic Disorder - complications; Panic Disorder - physiopathology; Panic Disorder - psychology; Panic disorders; Patients; Prefrontal cortex; Prefrontal Cortex - physiopathology; Radiology and Medical Imaging/Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Remission; Remission Induction; Social Behavior; Stimuli

The neural mechanisms of panic disorder (PD) are only incompletely understood. Higher sensitivity of patients to unspecific fear cues and similarities to conditioned fear suggest involvement of lower limbic and brainstem structures. We investigated if emotion perception is altered in remitted PD as...