As well as structural changes, there are changes in functional connectivity that have been observed in the brains of people with anxiety disorders.1,2 More research is needed to understand whether the functional changes in people with anxiety disorders alters over time, and whether certain changes are specific to certain anxiety disorders.2
References:
- Xu J, Van Dam NT, Feng C, et al. Anxious brain networks: a coordinate-based activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis of resting-state functional connectivity studies in anxiety. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2019; 96: 21–30.
- Kolesar TA, Bilevicius E, Wilson AD, Kornelsen J. Systematic review and meta-analyses of neural structural and functional differences in generalized anxiety disorder and healthy controls using magnetic resonance imaging. Neuroimage Clin 2019; 24: 102016.