Guest guest Posted February 8, 2004 Report Share Posted February 8, 2004 Related to a recent conversation... Here is the latest from >the New York Times on Panic Disorder: > Panic Spells Are Traced to Chemical in the Brain > >By ANAHAD O'CONNOR > >Published: January 27, 2004 > > >Sudden heart-pounding panic attacks are most likely caused by abnormalities >in the brain, new evidence suggests, reinforcing earlier research on animals. > >People with panic disorder, according to scientists at the National >Institutes >of Health, have drastic reductions of a type of serotonin receptor, called >5-HT1A, in three areas of the brain. The findings, reported last week in The >Journal of Neuroscience, lend credence to the suspicion that serotonin >dysfunction >plays a role in the disorder. > > > " This provides evidence for what we've been telling patients all along, " said >Dr. Dennis S. Charney, chief of the mood and anxiety disorders research >program >at the institutes and an author of the paper. " Panic disorder is due to a >specific abnormality in the brain, not a weakness in character. " > >About 2.4 million Americans have the disease, which can leave its victims >living in constant fear of attacks that might plunge them into outbursts of >worry and thoughts of impending death. Experts have compared it to being >stalked >by a lion. The episodes, often resembling a heart attack and known to strike >at any time, can be so terrifying that some associate them with the place >that they occurred - the subway or the grocery store, for example - and will >refuse to go there again. > >Traditionally, the biological basis of the disease has been poorly understood. > But some of the best drug treatments are serotonin enhancers, which have >hinted at the chemical messenger's involvement for some time. Also supporting >that theory is research on mice. When a gene for serotonin receptors is >eliminated, > the animals have a greater risk of anxiety. > >In the latest study, scientists used brain images to peer at serotonin >receptors >in humans. The subjects, 16 people with panic disorder and 15 who did not >have the disorder were injected with small quantities of a benign radioactive >tracer that latched onto the receptors, allowing the researchers to count >them and pinpoint their locations. > >The disparity was marked. Subjects in the panic group averaged a third fewer >receptors in areas known as the anterior and posterior cingulates. The group >members were also deficient in the the raphe, which has connections to a >region >that processes emotion. > >Dr. Alexander Neumeister, a research psychiatrist at the National Institute >of Mental Health and an author of the study, said there was a strong >likelihood >that the receptor deficiencies were genetic. But he also cautioned that he >could not rule out the possibility that the depletions were actually a result, > rather than a cause, of the disorder. > > " We don't know if this was there before these people were ill, " he said. " The >next step is to study people who have a history of panic disorder in their >families but are asymptomatic. Then we can determine which comes first. " > >The illness, which most commonly begins between late adolescence and the >mid-30' >s, is just one in a group of anxiety-inducing ailments that are relatively >widespread. About 19 million Americans are afflicted by one of the diseases; > obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and specific >phobias are among the more well known. > >One expert, Dr. Michael Liebowitz, a professor of clinical psychiatry at >Columbia, > who did not participate in the study, said the findings were significant >but needed to be replicated. > > " There are still a few issues, like whether this is something that is >specific >to panic disorder or something in anxiety disorder in general, " Dr. Liebowitz >said. > >Still, said Jerilyn Ross, president of the Anxiety Disorders Association of >America, the research sheds some light on the biological underpinnings of >the disorder and may lift some of its stigma. Almost 75 percent of people >with panic disorder do not receive treatment, she said. Some, she added, are >dismissed by doctors who think they are hypochondriacs. > > " Anxiety, even in the mental health system is often overlooked, " Ms. Ross >said. " So a study like this reinforces the fact that it is real and should >be taken seriously. " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 9, 2004 Report Share Posted February 9, 2004 In a message dated 2/8/04 11:47:22 PM Central Standard Time, female_tigress writes: > Sure > they need re-inforcing but 8 years later! > Cheryl, so glad you were able to be helped. My friend had one in church the other day and couldn't get away. Just had to sit there and endure it. She was half nuts when she got home. Since you cant' look at a person and tell they're having one, the little old ladies just kept on chattering to her and made it even worse. yours and His, Deonia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 9, 2004 Report Share Posted February 9, 2004 Thanks Peggy, I just remember I used to have panic attacks after I was rear ended by an 18 wheeler back in 1995. At the VA Medical Center in Bath NY, they had a hynotherapist on site and he worked with me for about 6 months. He set up controls for relaxation and sleep that still work today. Sure they need re-inforcing but 8 years later! Cheryl ===== Cheryl Smith A Heavenly Body Anchorage AK 9950* (907) 222-0886 http://www.aheavenlybody.com Finance: Get your refund fast by filing online. http://taxes./filing.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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