According to the latest discovery from the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, there may be a possible link between brain activity and childhood anxiety.
The researchers detected brain activity in nervous and agitated monkeys. A PET scan of the brains of 238 agitated young rhesus monkeys showed increased brain activity in the organ's amygdala and anterior hippocampus parts. They said that looking at these regions in human brains could help predict and treat high levels of anxiety.
The study was published in the journal Nature.
Ned H. Kalin, chair of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, who led the study is planning a similar experiment on children to see if the same brain regions in human produce anxiety. He said, “Basically the idea and the hope would be we could intervene in a way that we could, more or less permanently, change a young child's brain such that they would not have to struggle with these problems.”
He explained, “Children with anxious temperaments suffer from extreme shyness, persistent worry and increased bodily responses to stress. It has long been known that these children are at increased risk of developing anxiety, depression and associated substance abuse disorders…My feeling is that the earlier we intervene with children, the more likely they will be able to lead a happy life in which they aren't as controlled by anxiety and depression. We think we can train vulnerable kids to settle their brains down.”
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