Anxiety May Be Caused by Weaker Neural Wirings

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) may occur more often in people who have weaker neural links between the amygdala and the prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in their brains.

The amygdala is the region of the human brain responsible for controlling fear, and handling the flight-or-fight response that you experience during a dangerous situation. Some additional roles are still under debate in the scientific community.

The ACC, on the other hand, is the main center for regulating emotions. When fewer white matter connections exist between the two, there is a higher chance that the affected person will suffer from GAD, say investigators at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The work, which was supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, was published in the September 3 issue of the journal Archives of General Psychiatry.