Original articleAntidepressant Drug Treatment Modifies the Neural Processing of Nonconscious Threat Cues
Section snippets
Subjects
Twenty-four right-handed healthy volunteers screened for psychiatric history of Axis 1 disorders were included in this study, and all gave informed consent. Ethical approval of this study was provided by the local ethics committee (Oxford Psychiatric Research Ethics Committee, United Kingdom). Volunteers were randomized to receive either 20 mg citalopram or placebo every day for 7 days in a double-blind design, with groups matched in terms of gender (7 female subjects per group), age (24 ± 7
Subjective Ratings
As previously found, 7 days of citalopram treatment in healthy volunteers did not affect ratings of mood, anxiety, or energy on subjective ratings scales (all comparisons with placebo p > .1). However, self-rated hostility perception and behavior on the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory was reduced after citalopram treatment compared with placebo [t(22) = 2.5, p = .02].
Amygdala ROI
Volunteers receiving placebo showed a significant bilateral response to fearful facial expressions presented outside of conscious
Discussion
These results indicate a direct and dissociable effect of SSRI administration on the processing of subliminal emotional stimuli within the amygdala, which is not mediated through changes in symptom remission in depression. This suggests a modulatory role for serotonin in the neural processing of threat-relevant stimuli and highlights a potential mechanism by which SSRIs may work in mood and anxiety disorders. In confirmation of previous findings, SSRI administration also reduced the recognition
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