Anxiety, Fear and Human Defensive Reactions: Behavioural Differentiation of Generalised Anxiety Disorder and Panic Disorder

焦虑、恐惧和人类防御反应：广泛性焦虑症和恐慌症的行为分化

• 批准号: 252534863
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Ulrich Ettinger
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Abteilung Allgemeine Psychologie I
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2013-12-31 至 2015-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/252534863?language=en
• 关键词: Anxiety; Fear; Human; Defensive; Reactions

In this study we attempt to dissociate, at a behavioural level, the causal mechanisms of fear and anxiety through the use of a translational experimental paradigm, the Joystick Operated Runway Task (JORT). The JORT is the human translation of a rodent task which allows the measurement of the separable behavioural components of simple avoidance (fear) and approach-withdrawal oscillations (anxiety). We have previously developed the JORT and twice validated it pharmacologically, suggesting the task allows the measurement of these two components of human defensive behaviour. Here we would like to apply the task in order to study two clinical conditions, generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) and panic disorder (PD). These disorders are hypothesised to be dissociable from the perspective of defensive behaviour, with GAD involving goal conflict, reflected in increased approach-withdrawal behaviour, and PD involving increased fear, resulting in flight. On the basis of our previous work using the JORT, we surmise that its development from an established animal model has led to a novel and truly translational paradigm that may be useful in the behavioural measurement of human anxiety- and fear-proneness. The task has face validity and we have accumulated evidence of construct validity. Together this evidence suggests that the JORT may tap important variance of the dimensions underlying GAD and PD. However, two important questions remain. First, we need to establish whether anxiety disorder patients, in general, show more intense defensive behaviour than healthy controls. Second we need to determine if the two component processes of the JORT map onto the clinical diagnoses of GAD and PD, as hypothesised. Therefore, in this study we aim to apply the JORT to samples of patients with GAD (N=30), patients with PD (N=30), and healthy controls (N=30). Overall, the proposed research intends to make a significant contribution to our understanding of GAD and PD by dissecting these disorders at the neurobehavioural level using a theoretical framework that maintains that anxiety and fear have functional significance as part of the innate mammalian defensive repertoire.

在这项研究中，我们试图通过使用转化实验范式——操纵杆操作跑道任务（JORT），在行为层面上分离恐惧和焦虑的因果机制。 JORT 是啮齿类动物任务的人类翻译，它可以测量简单回避（恐惧）和接近-退缩振荡（焦虑）的可分离行为成分。我们之前开发了 JORT 并对其进行了两次药理学验证，表明该任务可以测量人类防御行为的这两个组成部分。在这里，我们想应用该任务来研究两种临床病症：广泛性焦虑症（GAD）和恐慌症（PD）。从防御行为的角度来看，这些疾病被认为是可分离的，GAD 涉及目标冲突，反映在接近-退缩行为增加，而 PD 涉及恐惧增加，导致逃跑。根据我们之前使用 JORT 的工作，我们推测它从已建立的动物模型发展而来，已经产生了一种新颖且真正的转化范式，可能有助于人类焦虑和恐惧倾向的行为测量。该任务具有表面效度，并且我们已经积累了结构效度的证据。这些证据共同表明，JORT 可能利用 GAD 和 PD 基础维度的重要方差。然而，仍然存在两个重要问题。首先，我们需要确定焦虑症患者是否总体上比健康对照组表现出更强烈的防御行为。其次，我们需要确定 JORT 的两个组成过程是否如假设的那样映射到 GAD 和 PD 的临床诊断。因此，在本研究中，我们的目标是将 JORT 应用于 GAD 患者 (N=30)、PD 患者 (N=30) 和健康对照 (N=30) 的样本。总体而言，拟议的研究旨在通过使用理论框架在神经行为层面剖析这些疾病，为我们对 GAD 和 PD 的理解做出重大贡献，该理论框架认为焦虑和恐惧作为先天哺乳动物防御系统的一部分具有功能意义。