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Diffusion Tensor Imaging in Anxiety Disorders

  • ANXIETY DISORDERS (DJ STEIN, SECTION EDITOR)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) can be used to examine the structural integrity of regional white matter and to map white matter tracts. DTI studies have been performed in several psychiatric disorders, especially in those for which a developmental or a neuropsychiatric component was postulated. Thus far, the use of DTI has been very limited in panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder, and somewhat more extensive in post-traumatic stress disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. In most anxiety disorders, the results of DTI studies are in line with other structural and functional MRI findings and can be interpreted within the frameworks of existing models for the neurocircuitry of the various disorders. DTI findings could further enrich neurobiological models for anxiety disorders, although replication is often warranted, and studies in pediatric populations are lagging behind remarkably.

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Acknowledgments

This review was supported through a EU Marie Curie International Staff Exchange Scheme grant for the European South African Research Network in Anxiety Disorders (EUSARNAD) (PIRSES-GA-2010-269213), and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research–National Initiative Brain and Cognition (NIBC) project grants no. 056-25-010 and no. 056-23-011.

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No potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Elliot Ayling

  2. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Curium-Leiden University Medical Center, Endegeesterstraatweg 27, 2342 AK, Oegstgeest, The Netherlands

    Moji Aghajani

  3. Department of Human Biology and Department of Psychiatry, University of Cape Town, Anzio Road, Observatory, 7925, Cape Town, South Africa

    Jean-Paul Fouche

  4. Department of Psychiatry, Stellenbosch University, Francie van Zijl, Tygerberg, 7500, Cape Town, South Africa

    Jean-Paul Fouche

  5. Department of Psychiatry and Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Nic van der Wee

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  1. Elliot Ayling
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  2. Moji Aghajani
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  4. Nic van der Wee
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Correspondence to Nic van der Wee.

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Ayling, E., Aghajani, M., Fouche, JP. et al. Diffusion Tensor Imaging in Anxiety Disorders. Curr Psychiatry Rep 14, 197–202 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-012-0273-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-012-0273-z

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