Brain scans may aid anxious

U.S. researchers suggest brain scans may help predict how anxiety disorders patients react to drug therapy.

"Hopefully we'll be able to use that eventually to determine what kind of treatment to provide to people," lead author Jack Nitschke, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health said in a statement.

The study, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine patients with generalized anxiety disorder and found high levels of amygdala activity -- a part of the brain involved in memory of emotional reactions

This response in a "safe" lab settings was a disproportionately large response to the idea that something negative might happen, Nitschke said.

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Brain Center May Link Addiction, Mental Illness

Developmental problems involving a walnut-shaped part of the brain called the amygdala -- linked to fear, anxiety and other emotions -- may explain why mental illness and addiction often appear together, researchers say.

Many kinds of addiction -- such as those for alcohol, drugs and nicotine -- occur in people with various kinds of mental illness, including depression, schizophrenia and anxiety disorders, according to background information in an American Psychological Association news release about the Indiana University study.

Two to five of every 10 anxious or depressed people, and four to eight of every 10 people with schizophrenia, biopolar disorder or antisocial personality, also have some form of addiction, according to epidemiological data.

In this study, published in the December issue of Behavioral Neuroscience, the researchers compared the behavior of adult rats whose amygdalas were surgically damaged in infancy and adult rats with intact amygdalas.

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Mental illness and drug addiction may co-occur due to disturbance in part of the brain

Why do mental illness and drug addiction so often go together" New research reveals that this type of dual diagnosis may stem from a common cause: developmental changes in the amylagda, a walnut-shaped part of the brain linked to fear, anxiety and other emotions. A full report on why these “comorbid” disorders may develop appears in the December Behavioral Neuroscience, published by the American Psychological Association (APA).

Dual diagnosis is common yet difficult to treat. Addiction of all types – to nicotine, alcohol and drugs – is often found in people with a wide variety of mental illnesses, including anxiety disorders, unipolar and bipolar depression, schizophrenia, and borderline and other personality disorders. Lead author Andrew Chambers, MD, cites clinical reports that at least half the people who seek help with addiction or mental-health treatment have co-occurring disorders. Epidemiological data says that from two to five of every 10 anxious or depressed people, and from four to eight of every 10 people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or antisocial personality, also have some type of addiction.

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