Advances in understanding the anxiety disorders: the cognitive-affective neuroscience of 'false alarms'.
BACKGROUND
There have been significant advances in our understanding of the anxiety disorders; a range of data is now available on their epidemiology, nosology, psychobiology, and management. An integrative framework is required in order to conceptualize this data and to apply it in the clinic.


METHODS
This is a nonsystematic review of literature on the psychobiology of some the major anxiety disorders, focused on the idea that each of these conditions can be conceptualized in terms of a different "false alarm," mediated by specific neurocircuitry and with a particular evolutionary origin.


RESULTS
The "false alarm" concept is able to integrate a range of data on the proximal mechanisms of anxiety disorders (including their mediating neurochemistry and neurogenetics), as well as hypotheses about the distal or evolutionary underpinnings of these conditions.


CONCLUSIONS
Fortunately, serotonergic antidepressants and cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy appear to be able to normalize the putative "false alarms" in anxiety disorders. A better understanding of the cognitive-affective neuroscience of anxiety disorders will hopefully lead to improved treatments.
Stein
Dan J
DJ
Department of Psychiatry, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa. dan.stein@curie.uct.ac.za
D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology*; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D005075:Biological Evolution; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000503:physiopathology