脑成像如何帮助解释社交焦虑症

Some People With SAD Respond Better to CBT Than Others

如果你收到了认知行为治疗（CBT）和/或药物社交焦虑症, it is likely that the choice of treatment was based on the perspective of the professional who administered it, more so than characteristics of you as a patient.

That could all change, with research investigating the usefulness of "neuromarkers" in predicting which patients will respond better to certain types of treatments. These areas of the brain are identified during scans known as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

在2013年的一项研究由约翰·d·加百利的领导Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), it was found that among 39 patients with SAD who received 12 weeks of CBT, those who more strongly reacted to angry faces (based on looking at their brain scans) showed better improvement.

这意味着可以识别更有可能响应的人更好的个人CBT for social anxiety disorder。

冥想可以帮助那些悲伤的人

在由斯坦福研究菲律宾金属林丁领导的2009年研究中，并发表在Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy，发现9个会议（2个月）mindfulness-based stress reduction(meditation directed at focusing on bodily sensations) resulted in improvements in views of the self among those with social anxiety disorder.

Individuals who with SAD who completed the MBSR program also showed improved ability to shift their thinking and focus, in particular away from the negative and toward the positive.

Based on the brain imaging conducted in the study, it appeared that brain activity in areas related to visual attention also increased.

然而，这项研究中看到的视觉注意力的增加表明，根据Goldin的说法，人们被“陷入刺激而不是逃跑”。

这项研究表明meditation，特别是MBSR，可能有助于改善社会焦虑的症状，特别是与负面自我观点和选择性的视觉关注有关。

锻炼可以帮助那些悲伤的人

The human brain naturally produces a variety of chemicals including dopamine (reward), serotonin (relaxation) and endorphins (pain relief).

在2009年的脑成像研究由查尔斯Hillman and published in the journal神经科学, it was found that walking improved the cognitive control of attention in preadolescent children.

来自研究的数据支持适度的急剧运动，以提高关注和学术表现;然而，还有其他研究运动对大脑的影响可能与悲伤有关。

Endorphins released during exercise may help to improve various brain systems necessary to overcome social anxiety disorder. For example, endorphins released during exercise may help with neurogenesis or new brain growth. Although speculative, this could lead to increased capacities, such as better clarity of thinking and an improved view of the outside world. Exercise may also stimulate better attention, which we already know (see Goldin's study above) may be important for those who tend to look away in social situations.

Therefore, the brain scans above showing the difference in brain activity with or without exercise suggests apositive benefit of exercise对于那些悲伤的人。

社交焦虑和介面是不同的

脑成像如何帮助解除社交焦虑症的一个简单示例可能来自Introvions与促进的工作。而introversion and social anxietyare not the same things (introverts become overstimulated by social interaction while those with social anxiety have a fear response), understanding how brain pathways differ for different types of personalities can still be helpful.

在由Michael Cohen领导的2005年FMRI学习中，并在期刊上发表Cognitive Brain Research, it was found that extroverts responded more strongly when a gamble paid off. It is argued that this is a result of differences in the reward pathways in the brains of extroverts (those who crave external stimulation).

Similarly, Hans Eysenck argued back in the 1960s that introverts naturally have a higher basic level of arousal compared to extroverts.

所有这些中心都通过涉及味道，触摸，视觉和试镜的较短脑途径来实现过程刺激的概念，而内向的涉及涉及记忆，规划和解决问题的较长途径。

这与悲伤有什么关系？内源/升压尺寸似乎涉及结构水平的不同脑过程;因此，这看起来很难改变。另一方面，我们知道社交焦虑可以通过治疗来改善。这只是强调了悲伤和攀爬的概念，虽然经常混淆，但不是同样的事情。

社交焦虑可能是遗传性的

In a 2015 paper published in美国国家科学院的诉讼程序and led by Ned Kalin of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, it was shown that the functioning of certain areas of the brain may be related to a遗传倾向于焦虑的气质。

The study looked at 600 rhesus monkeys from a large multi-generational family. Using a task in which the young monkeys were faced with a threat (a stranger who did not look at them), the researchers employed high-resolution functional and structural brain imaging.

What they found was that there was overactivity in three brain areas (the prefrontal-limbic-midbrain circuit) among anxious young monkeys.

They also determined that 35% of the variation in anxiety tendency was explained by family history.

Interestingly, the three areas of the brain that were implicated are survival-related: the brain stem (primitive brain), amygdala (fear center), and prefrontal cortex (high-level reasoning).

This study tells us that anxiety may have been genetically passed down because it held evolutionary value—that of avoiding danger.