Study Examines Causes of Anxiety

Scientists have identified the part of the brain associated with anxiety in primates. This discovery will help them understand anxiety and predisposition to anxiety disorders in human children. Essentially, the nervous and anxious monkeys had higher activity in this region of the brain as well as higher levels of the stress hormone, cortisol, even during routine and non-threatening scenarios.

”Individuals that have a predisposition (to anxiety) have a brain circuit that is always on; it doesn’t turn off like in normal individuals,” said Kalin, who published his findings this month in the journal Public Library of Science ONE. (as quoted in this article in the Salt Lake Tribune)

These findings suggest that people with anxiety disorders may actually have been predispositioned as children to social anxiety disorder in later life.

Category: predisposition to anxiety disorders