Untangling genetic networks of panic, phobia, fear and anxiety 英文参考文献.docVIP

Minireview Untangling genetic networks of panic, phobia, fear and anxiety Sandra Villafuerte* and Margit Burmeister*? Address: *Mental Health Research Institute and ?Department of Psychiatry and Department of Human Genetics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan MI 48109-0720, USA. Correspondence: Margit Burmeister. E-mail: margit@ Published: 28 July 2003 Genome Biology 2003, 4:224 The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at /2003/4/8/224 ? 2003 BioMed Central Ltd Abstract As is the case for normal individual variation in anxiety levels, the conditions panic disorder, agoraphobia and other phobias have a significant genetic basis. Recent reports have started to untangle the genetic relationships between predispositions to anxiety and anxiety disorders. “But if I am in an unfamiliar place, among a number of strange people, or people whom I feel to be strangers, then the whole room presses on my chest and I am unable to move, my whole personality seems virtually to get under their skins, and everything becomes hopeless.” individual variation in N is attributed to genes [4], and about 55% of the genetic vulnerability to N overlaps with that to depression [5]. In contrast to normal variation in baseline anxiety levels, individuals with anxiety disorders such as panic disorder, agoraphobia and specific phobias (formerly called simple phobias) are often severely handicapped by their fear. People with panic disorder experience unprovoked panic attacks with terrifying fear and physical signs of panic, such as increased heart rate, sweating and feeling choked. Agora- phobia is characterized by fear of being in public places and often co-exists with panic disorder, whereas specific phobias are characterized by intense, unreasonable fear of specific things (such as spiders, snakes or lightening) or