A breakthrough in mood/anxiety disorders

Everyday millions of people deal with mood and anxiety disorders. The intensity of these disorders varies between people, but many times these disorders prove to be extremely dangerous. It can have a large impact on a person’s overall quality of life and their daily outlook. These disorders are extremely prevalent in today’s society and we need to proactively look for more ways to not only better understand how these disorders work but look for ways to better combat these disorders as well. Currently, the topic of these disorders is being studied very heavily. One of the speakers in my neuroscience seminar class actually addressed this issue. The speaker, Michael Koenigs discussed his paper regarding a substrate that is heavily connected to mood and anxiety disorders, vmPFC. Before jumping into what Koenig discussed, I would like to give some background information. The findings of Koenig’s research center around two components, the vmPFC and amygdala. As already stated, vmPFC is a substrate heavily connected to mood and anxiety disorders, but amygdala serves as a center for emotions. Results have led many people to believe that if you suppressed vmPFC then amygdala activity increases and results in higher levels of negative emotion. Up to this point, experiments were performed on rodents, whereas Koenig’s study directly deals with this issue in human patients.  His study compares two groups of subjects. Specifically it compares a group of 10 healthy individuals to four adult neurosurgical patients. In comparison between the two groups, the findings supported prior results that were seen in previous models such as rodents. It was found that in response to unpleasant images, the group of neurosurgical patients with vmPFC lesions displayed reduced deceleration cardiac rates as well as elevated resting amygdala levels. Koenig concludes his study by stating that these results signify that vmPFC is involved in processes related to self-awareness, self-reflection, and emotional responses. That is something that I found extremely interesting. A study was able to identify and get closer to finding out how to certain negative moods are expressed within our bodies. In my opinion, proving that the vmPFC plays a big role in effecting amygdala levels and subsequently playing a role in our negative emotions is extremely important; These findings are quite important because they could lead us to better understand how to better treat people with mood and anxiety disorders. Furthermore, this study became even more interesting when compared to another news article. An article I read on e science news discussed how a compound called Psilocybin actually inhibits the processing of negative emotions within the Amygdala.  Psilocybin is a psychedelic compound found in over two hundred species of mushrooms.  The article notes that Rainer Krahenmann has published a study in relation to Psilocybin’s affect on the Amygdala. The results show that in healthy individuals, Psilocybin positively influences mood by directly influencing the serotonin system. Specifically Psilocybin enhances sites for messenger serotonin and thus effects brain regions. Interestingly only moderate levels of the compound are needed to have a positive effect. If only moderate levels of the compound are needed to have a positive effect, then it may be possible that this compound is a safe and viable option to treat patients with mood/anxiety disorders. Although Psilocybin has shown to positively effect healthy individuals, there still has yet to be a study that primarily focuses on depressive patients.

Both of these articles discuss factors that potentially effect mood and anxiety disorders. Koenig’s study showed that lesions to vmPFC increase amygdala levels and relatedly increased negative emotion levels, whereas the article from e science news has shed light on a compound that could potentially repress negative signals from the amygdala. Personally, I believe these findings are extremely interesting and important because they could potentially help us better treat patients that deal with mood and anxiety disorders. Koenig’s paper has allowed us to understand the mechanism through which these disorders act.  It is very possible that these disorders impact vmPFC functionality and therefore indirectly results in a negative impact. On the other hand, the article from e science news has given us a potentially new treatment route. If both the results from the case study and the article were to be coupled, I believe there is a way to finally better help people deal with their mood and anxiety disorders.

Overall, the study by Michael Koenig and the article from e science news are clear breakthroughs in terms of dealing with mood and anxiety disorders. The lecture from the neuroscience seminar and the article has provided new hope for societies current search to try to proactively deal with anxiety and mood disorders.

Motzkin, Julian C., Carissa L. Philippi, Richard C. Wolf, Mustafa K. Baskaya, and Michael Koenigs. "Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Is Critical for the Regulation of Amygdala Activity in Humans." Biological Psychiatry 77.3 (2015): 276-84. Web.

"Psilocybin Inhibits the Processing of Negative Emotions in The brain." Psilocybin Inhibits the Processing of Negative Emotions in the Brain. N.p., 07 May 2014. Web. 09 Dec. 2015.