ArticleNeuroImage. Clinical2016
Neurostructural abnormalities associated with axes of emotion dysregulation in generalized anxiety.
Article in NeuroImage. Clinical, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 75 citations in OpenAlex.
- Grey matter structural alterations in anxiety disorders: a voxel-based meta-analysis.Brain imaging and behavior · 2024Pooled it
- Pathological fear, anxiety and negative affect exhibit distinct neurostructural signatures: evidence from psychiatric neuroimaging meta-analysis.Translational psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- Systematic review and meta-analyses of neural structural and functional differences in generalized anxiety disorder and healthy controls using magnetic resonance imaging.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2019Pooled it
- Structural and functional neuroimaging studies in generalized anxiety disorder: a systematic review.Revista brasileira de psiquiatria (Sao Paulo, Brazil : 1999)Pooled it
- Impaired disengagement from worry: Dissociating the impacts of valence and internally-directed attention.Behaviour research and therapy · 2023Trial
- Multimodal phenotypic classification of generalized anxiety and panic using structural MRI data and psychosocial factors: machine learning results from the German National Cohort (NAKO) study.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Sympathetic Shift and Insular Alteration: Unravelling the Link Between Anxiety and Heart Rate Variability in Parkinson's Disease.Movement disorders : official journal of the Movement Disorder Society · 2026Article
- Ambroxol's Role in PTZ-Induced Anxiety-Like Conditions in Mice: Targeting Neuroinflammation and Oxidative Stress via In Vivo and In Silico Approaches.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Article
- Effects of A Brief Resonance Frequency Breathing Exercise on Heart Rate Variability and Inhibitory Control in the Context of Generalised Anxiety Disorder.Applied psychophysiology and biofeedback · 2025Article
- Positive ADHD Scores are Associated With Higher Screen Time and Anxiety Symptoms in Medical Students: Cross-sectional Study.Actas espanolas de psiquiatria · 2025Article
- Impact of Stress on Brain Morphology: Insights into Structural Biomarkers of Stress-related Disorders.Current neuropharmacology · 2024Review
- Brain morphometry points to emerging patterns of psychosis, depression, and anxiety vulnerability over a 2-year period in childhood.Psychological medicine · 2023Article
- Anxious Brains: A Combined Data Fusion Machine Learning Approach to Predict Trait Anxiety from Morphometric Features.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Somatic symptoms mediate the association between subclinical anxiety and depressive symptoms and its neuroimaging mechanisms.BMC psychiatry · 2022Article
- Reduced cortical volume of the default mode network in adolescents with generalized anxiety disorder.Depression and anxiety · 2022Article
- Article
- Larger increase in trait negative affect is associated with greater future cognitive decline and vice versa across 23 years.Depression and anxiety · 2021Article
- Progressive brain structural alterations assessed via causal analysis in patients with generalized anxiety disorder.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2020Article
- Worry alters speed-accuracy tradeoffs but does not impair sustained attention.Behaviour research and therapy · 2020Article
- Heart Rate Variability Moderates the Association Between Beliefs About Worry and Generalized Anxiety Disorder Symptoms.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundDespite the high prevalence of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and its negative impact on society, its neurobiology remains obscure. This study characterizes the neurostructural abnormalities associated with key symptoms of GAD, focusing on indicators of impaired emotion regulation (excessive worry, poor concentration, low mindfulness, and physiological arousal).
methodsThese domains were assessed in 19 (16 women) GAD patients and 19 healthy controls matched for age and gender, using questionnaires and a low demand behavioral task performed before and after an induction of perseverative cognition (i.e. worry and rumination). Continuous pulse oximetry was used to measure autonomic physiology (heart rate variability; HRV). Observed cognitive and physiological changes in response to the induction provided quantifiable data on emotional regulatory capacity. Participants underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging; voxel-based morphometry was used to quantify the relationship between gray matter volume and psychological and physiological measures.
resultsOverall, GAD patients had lower gray matter volume than controls within supramarginal, precentral, and postcentral gyrus bilaterally. Across the GAD group, increased right amygdala volume was associated with prolonged reaction times on the tracking task (indicating increased attentional impairment following the induction) and lower scores on the 'Act with awareness' subscale of the Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire. Moreover in GAD, medial frontal cortical gray matter volume correlated positively with the 'Non-react mindfulness' facet. Lastly, smaller volumes of bilateral insula, bilateral opercular cortex, right supramarginal and precentral gyri, anterior cingulate and paracingulate cortex predicted the magnitude of autonomic change following the induction (i.e. a greater decrease in HRV).
conclusionsResults distinguish neural structures associated with impaired capacity for cognitive, attentional and physiological disengagement from worry, suggesting that aberrant competition between these levels of emotional regulation is intrinsic to symptom expression in GAD.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.