Anxiety Disorders

Jonathan Benjamin, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba, Israel
James Kennedy, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

Published online: July 2006

DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0005153

Anxiety disorders are psychiatric syndromes in which pathological anxiety is the dominant feature. The results of family studies and twin studies suggest a genetic contribution to these disorders, especially in the case of panic disorder. The molecular search for responsible genes has just begun.

Keywords: anxiety; neurotransmitters; panic disorder; obsessive–compulsive disorder; twin studies

 References
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 Further Reading
    book Carey G and Gottesman I (1981) "Twin and family studies of anxiety, phobic and obsessive disorders". In: Klein D and Rabkin J (eds.) Anxiety: New Research and Changing Concepts. New York, NY: Raven Press.
    book Fyer A (2000) "Anxiety disorders: genetics". In: Sadock B and Sadock V (eds.) Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry, 7th edn. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins.
 Web Links
    ePath corticotropin releasing hormone receptor 2 (CRHR2); Locus ID: 1395. LocusLink: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/LocusLink/LocRpt.cgi?l=1395
    ePath solute carrier family 6 (neurotransmitter transporter, dopamine), member 3 (SLC6A3); Locus ID: 6531. LocusLink: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/LocusLink/LocRpt.cgi?l=6531
    ePath monoamine oxidase A (MAOA); Locus ID: 4128. LocusLink: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/LocusLink/LocRpt.cgi?l=4128
    ePath catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT); Locus ID: 1312. LocusLink: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/LocusLink/LocRpt.cgi?l=1312
    ePath corticotropin releasing hormone receptor 2 (CRHR2); MIM number: 602034. OMIM: http://www3.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Omim/dispmim?602034
    ePath solute carrier family 6 (neurotransmitter transporter, dopamine), member 3 (SLC6A3); MIM number: 126455. OMIM: http://www3.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Omim/dispmim?126455
    ePath monoamine oxidase A (MAOA); MIM number: 309850. OMIM: http://www3.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Omim/dispmim?309850
    ePath catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT); MIM number: 116790. OMIM: http://www3.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Omim/dispmim?116790

Related Sub-Topics:

Neurobiology of Disease | Molecular Genetics of Common and Complex Disease | Genetics of Intelligence and Cognition
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Article Title: Anxiety Disorders
 
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Benjamin, Jonathan, and Kennedy, James(Jul 2006) Anxiety Disorders. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0005153]