2009 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Neural basis of anxiety and onset of panic disorder.

Research Project

Project/Area Number	20890104
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (Start-up)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Psychiatric science
Research Institution	Mie University
Principal Investigator	NISHIMURA Yukika Mie University, 大学院・医学系研究科, リサーチアソシエイト (60456738)
Project Period (FY)	2008 – 2009
Keywords	パニック障害 / 不安 / 前頭葉 / 認知 / 記憶 / 情動 / 自律神経反応 / 大脳辺縁系
Research Abstract	The present study aimed to clarify the onset mechanism of panic disorder. We examined the relationship between the subjective anxiety and the autonomic responses monitored by the skin conductance rate during the emotional memory task in healthy adults. We also investigated the clinical features of panic disorder patients with respect to the place of their first panic attack at the first visit and in the 3-year outcome. Our results suggest that high-anxiety traits may influence the memory recall by the instability of autonomic activity in healthy adults. In the research of patients with panic disorder, the results showed that panic disorder patients have differential clinical features according to the place of their first panic attack.