Neurobiology Of Panic Disorder

Leading international experts emphasize that the ultimate understanding of panic disorder as a multifaceted clinical syndrome will involve multiple viewpoints and research approaches. Their contributions to Neurobiology of Panic Disorder offer such necessarily varied perspectives. Featuring vital data obtained over the last five years, this informative volume covers the neurobiological aspects of panic disorder, with an emphasis on mechanistic and preclinical studies. Contributions include a wide range of pertinent topics such as preclinical studies of brain systems involved in anxiety, familial and genetic marker studies, potential childhood antecedents of panic disorder, and animal models of anxiety. In addition, an examination of the noradrenergic system, viewpoints on the pathogenesis, pathophysiology and treatment potential of the serotonin system, and coverage of commonly used brain imaging techniques in research and clinical evaluation are included in the text.

The book is part of a series on Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences, which has as its focus anxiety and its treatment. We have brought together a distinguished cadre of authors with the aim of covering a broad array of topics related to anxiety disorders, ranging from clinical diagnosis, epidemiology, preclinical neuroscience, and animal models to established and innovative therapeutic approaches. The book aims at bridging these disciplines to provide an update of literature relevant to understanding anxiety, its consequences, and its management. Following is a brief overview of the chapters and their content, meant to serve as a guide to navigating the book. The ?rst section covers clinical aspects of anxiety disorders. Joe Bienvenu and colleagues provide an incisive overview of diagnostic considerations in the anxiety disorders in which they emphasize the strengths and shortcomings of our current nosologic systems. This is followed by a review and update of the epidemiology of anxiety disorders by Ron Kessler and colleagues, which provides an authoritative survey of anxiety disorder incidence, prevalence, and risk factors. This is comp- mented by a comprehensive review of the literature on disorders that co-occur with anxiety disorders by Kathleen Merikangas and Sonja Alsemgeest Swanson. Their review highlights the tremendous comorbidity that occurs not only within the anxiety disorders, but also with other mental and physical health conditions.

The book focuses on the neurobiological and treatment aspects of panic disorder. It describes the most recent research data and pharmacological therapeutic aspects of panic disorder. The biochemical, respiratory, imaging, and translational aspects will be together with diagnostic and pharmacological discussion. We have the collaboration of important and recognized researchers from various countries – Brazil, USA, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, and Switzerland – all of them with a continuous and relevant work on anxiety disorders. "Panic Disorder: Neurobiological and Treatment Aspects" is intended to be a reference book for those who research or treat panic disorder and anxiety disorder patients.

Although panic disorder may mimic medical conditions, patients with medical conditions that seem to pose a real life threat may be diagnosed when panic attacks, which are not well explained by any existing disease, repeatedly appear. After they accept the idea of possessing panic disorder, the most commonly asked question by patients is what has caused this condition. For the author, with more than 20 years of clinical experience, it is not easy to satisfy patients with simple answers. An exemplary explanation may be that the combination of heredity, environment, genetic-environmental interactions, neurotransmitters, the HPA axis, and any forms of stress affects the onset of panic disorder. Genetic susceptibility obviously affects panic disorder, but does not account for up to 30-40% of occurrences. Stressful life events often precede the onset and seem to increase the risk of panic disorder development, but not in all cases. In fact, the cause of panic disorder is still unknown. However, step-by-step approaches toward understanding the causes and developing new treatments for panic disorder through research on the epidemiological studies, genetics, epigenetic studies, neuroimaging studies, and studies dissecting neural circuits for regulating normal fear and anxiety are being put into effect. The latest advances in therapy for treatment-resistant patients who do not respond well to therapy have been addressed in this book. This book is the result of a worldwide collaboration of experts who are outstanding in the research of panic disorder. The author hopes that this book will give patients, clinicians, and clinical researchers the latest insights into panic disorder.

Part of the Oxford Psychiatry Library series, this pocketbook provides a user-friendly introduction to the diagnosis, etiology, and treatment of patients with panic disorder.

Do you ever wonder what is happening inside your brain when you feel anxious, panicked, and worried? In Rewire Your Anxious Brain, psychologist Catherine Pittman and author Elizabeth Karle offer a unique, evidence-based solution to overcoming anxiety based in cutting-edge neuroscience and research. In the book, you will learn how the amygdala and cortex (both important parts of the brain) are essential players in the neuropsychology of anxiety. The amygdala acts as a primal response, and oftentimes, when this part of the brain processes fear, you may not even understand why you are afraid. By comparison, the cortex is the center of “worry.” That is, obsessing, ruminating, and dwelling on things that may or may not happen. In the book, Pittman and Karle make it simple by offering specific examples of how to manage fear by tapping into both of these pathways in the brain. As you read, you’ll gain a greater understanding how anxiety is created in the brain, and as a result, you will feel empowered and motivated to overcome it. The brain is a powerful tool, and the more you work to change the way you respond to fear, the more resilient you will become. Using the practical self-assessments and proven-effective techniques in this book, you will learn to literally “rewire” the brain processes that lie at the root of your fears.

Using the most well-studied behavioral analyses of animal subjects to promote a better understanding of the effects of disease and the effects of new therapeutic treatments on human cognition, Methods of Behavior Analysis in Neuroscience provides a reference manual for molecular and cellular research scientists in both academia and the pharmaceutic

Stress is such an over-used word that it is at time difficult to define its core features. When is an environment stressful? What does a stressful environment do to the brain and to the body? What are the biological mechanisms by which a stressor affects us? How does stress contributes to the onset and the progression of mental disorders? How do the effects of stress change over the life-time of an individual? These are just some of the overarching questions addressed by this book, thanks to the contribution of some of the world leading experts on the neurobiology of stress at the pre-clinical and clinical levels. Topics include current advances on the neurobiology of stress on various neurobiological systems such as immune, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, neurogenesis and neuroplasticity, neurotransmitter (glutamate, noradrenaline, dopamine, serotonin and endocannabinoid), neuropeptides, cognition and emotional processing as well as in utero and early postnatal effects. The clinical chapters deal with the relationship of stress and mental disorders such as depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, substance abuse and addiction, dementia and age-related cognitive decline as well as resilience to stress. Thus, this book brings together some of the most updated and authoritative views on the effects of stress of brain and behavior.