Checking and washing rituals are reflected in altered cortical thickness in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

There is growing evidence for structural brain alterations in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The overall picture is however rather heterogeneous. To detect meaningful associations between clinical symptom profiles and structural alterations, we applied a classification approach, the k-means cluster analysis on clinical data, i.

The neural basis of the abnormal self-referential processing and its impact on cognitive control in depressed patients.

Persistent pondering over negative self-related thoughts is a central feature of depressive psychopathology. In this study, we sought to investigate the neural correlates of abnormal negative self-referential processing (SRP) in patients with Major Depressive Disorder and its impact on subsequent cognitive control-related neuronal activation. We hypothesized aberrant activation dynamics during the period of negative and neutral SRP in the rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) and in the amygdala in patients with major depressive disorder.

Self-referential processing influences functional activation during cognitive control: an fMRI study.

Rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) plays a central role in the pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD). As we reported in our previous study (Wagner et al., 2006), patients with MDD were characterized by an inability to deactivate this region during cognitive processing leading to a compensatory prefrontal hyperactivation.

Aberrant anterior cingulate activation in obsessive-compulsive disorder is related to task complexity.

Objectives: Evidence for working memory (WM) deficits in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is increasing. However, findings regarding the underlying neural substrates are heterogeneous. Moreover, the influence of cognitive demand on the severity of these deficits and associated activation alterations is a matter of debate.

White matter structure and symptom dimensions in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

There is evidence that the different symptom dimensions in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) may be mediated by partially distinct neural systems. This DTI study investigated the relationship between symptom dimensions and white matter microstructure. Fractional anisotropy (FA), axial and radial diffusivity was analyzed in relation to the main OCD symptom dimensions.

Fronto-cingulate effective connectivity in obsessive compulsive disorder: a study with fMRI and dynamic causal modeling.

Evidence suggests that obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is associated with an overactive error control system. A key role in error detection and control has been ascribed to the fronto-cingulate system. However, the exact functional interplay between the single components of this network in OCD is largely unknown.

The novel brain-specific tryptophan hydroxylase-2 gene in panic disorder.

Panic disorder is a common psychiatric disorder characterized by recurrent anxiety attacks and anticipatory anxiety. Due to the severity of the symptoms of the panic attacks and the frequent additional occurrence of agoraphobia, panic disorder is an often debilitating disease. Elevation of central serotonin levels by drugs such as clomipramine represents one of the most effective treatment options for panic disorder.

Association of a functional 1019C>G 5-HT1A receptor gene polymorphism with panic disorder with agoraphobia.

Panic disorder is a common anxiety disorder which frequently co-occurs with agoraphobia. A functional promoter polymorphism in the serotonin receptor 1A (5-HT1A) gene has been found to be associated with major depression as well as anxiety- and depression-related personality traits. We investigated a possible association between this 5-HT1A gene promoter polymorphism and panic disorder by genotyping the 1019C>G single nucleotide polymorphism in 134 panic-disorder patients with and without agoraphobia and matched 134 controls.