Patterns of regional brain activity differentiate types of anxiety.

Abstract

Previous studies have reported hemispheric asymmetries in brain activity in anxiety, but the direction of asymmetry has been inconsistent. A distinction between anxious apprehension (e.g., worry) and anxious arousal (e.g., panic), as types of anxiety, may account for some of the discrepancies. To test this proposition, the authors selected participants with self-reported anxious apprehension and experimentally manipulated anxious arousal. Regional brain activity was examined by recording electroencephalograms during rest and during an emotional narrative task designed to elicit anxious arousal. Overall, anxious participants showed a larger asymmetry in favor of the left hemisphere than did controls. In contrast, during the task, anxious participants showed a selective increase in right parietal activity. The results support the hypothesis that anxious apprehension and anxious arousal are associated with different patterns of regional brain activity.

Proneness to hypomania/mania symptoms or depression symptoms and asymmetrical frontal cortical responses to an anger-evoking event.

“…Statistically adjusting for fear in these regression analyses did not alter the size or significance of any of the reported effects. Moreover, the results of Heller et al (1997) suggest that individuals with anxious apprehension show decreased right frontal activity but not increased left frontal activity. In order for anxious apprehension to explain our results, HB should relate to anxious apprehension, decreased right frontal activity, and not increased left frontal activity.…”

“…Although some past research has supported the hypothesis that right parietal activity relates to emotional arousal, other research has not supported this hypothesis (e.g., Carretie, Mercado, & Tapia, 2000;Dawson, Panagiotides, Klinger, & Hill, 1992). 5 Because of research that suggests depression and anxiety are often highly correlated (e.g., Katon & Roy-Byrne, 1991) and research that suggests that anxious apprehension is associated with decreased right frontal activity (e.g., Heller, Nitschke, Etienne, & Miller, 1997), whereas anxious arousal is associated with increased right frontal activity (Nitschke et al, 1999), we examined the effects of HB and D on frontal asymmetry indices (and we examined left and right activity separately) while statistically controlling for baseline reported fear, a proxy of anxiety. Statistically adjusting for fear in these regression analyses did not alter the size or significance of any of the reported effects.…”

Untitled

“…Previous work examining anxious apprehension (e.g., Carter, Johnson, & Borkovec, 1986;Heller et al, 1997;Tucker, Antes, Stenslie, & Barnhardt, 1978;Tyler & Tucker, 1982) has found a greater frontal asymmetry involving left hemispheric activity in anxious apprehension groups.…”

“…In an evaluation of current anxiety research, Heller and her colleagues (Heller, Etienne, & Miller, 1995;Heller, Nitschke, Etienne, & Miller, 1997) suggested that part of the lack of clarity lies with the field's undifferentiated approach to anxiety that ignores differences in anxious arousal (panic) and anxious apprehension (worry). That is to say, studies exploring situations which increase arousal may result in differential cortical activation than those focused on worry or GAD.…”

Light and smell stimulus protocol reduced negative frontal EEG asymmetry and improved mood

“…Alphawaves have been shown to be inversely correlated with brain activity [18] and a reduction in left hemisphere activity is associated with anxiety and depression. The physiological measure, FA, was chosen because it has been used as an objective measure of depression and anxiety; depressed and anxious individuals tend to exhibit greater relative right anterior EEG or negative asymmetry [19][20][21][22][23], FA can predict future development of anxiety and depression [24], and this asymmetry has been shown to be a moderately stable individual difference in adults, irrespective of sex and history of depression [25,26]. A psychological measure, the Profile of Mood States (POMS) self-assessment questionnaire, was chosen because it is a widely used means of determining mood state [27][28][29].…”