@phdthesis{Schwarzmeier2023,
  author    = {Schwarzmeier, Hanna},
  title     = {From fear extinction to exposure therapy: neural mechanisms and moderators of extinction},
  doi       = {10.25972/OPUS-22330},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-223304},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2023},
  abstract  = {Emotional-associative learning processes such as fear conditioning and extinction are highly relevant to not only the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders (ADs), but also to their treatment. Extinction, as the laboratory analogue to behavioral exposure, is assumed a core process underlying the treatment of ADs. Although exposure-based treatments are highly effective for the average patient suffering from an AD, there remains a gap in treatment efficacy with over one third of patients failing to achieve clinically significant symptom relief. There is ergo a pressing need for intensified research regarding the underlying neural mechanisms of aberrant emotional-associative learning processes and the neurobiological moderators of treatment (non-)response in ADs. The current thesis focuses on different applications of the fundamental principles of fear conditioning and extinction by using two example cases of ADs from two different multicenter trials. First, we targeted alterations in fear acquisition, extinction, and its recall as a function of psychopathology in panic disorder (PD) patients compared to healthy subjects using fMRI. Second, exposure-based therapy and pre-treatment patient characteristics exerting a moderating influence on this essential learning process later on (i.e. treatment outcome) were examined using multimodal functional and structural neuroimaging in spider phobia. We observed aberrations in emotional-associative learning processes in PD patients compared to healthy subjects indicated by an accelerated fear acquisition and an attenuated extinction recall. Furthermore, pre-treatment differences related to defensive, regulatory, attentional, and perceptual processes may exert a moderating influence on treatment outcome to behavioral exposure in spider phobia. Although the current results need further replication, on an integrative meta level, results point to a hyperactive defensive network system and deficient emotion regulation processes (including extinction processes) and top-down control in ADs. This speaks in favor of transdiagnostic deficits in important functional domains in ADs. Deficits in transdiagnostic domains such as emotion regulation processes could be targeted by enhancing extinction learning or by means of promising tools like neurofeedback. The detection of pre-treatment clinical response moderators, for instance via machine learning frameworks, may help in supporting clinical decision making on individually tailored treatment approaches or, respectively, to avoid ineffective treatment and its related financial costs. In the long run, the identification of neurobiological markers which are capable of detecting non-responders a priori represents an ultimate goal.},
  subject      = {Extinktion},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Daub2023,
  author    = {Daub, Jonas},
  title     = {Der Einfluss von Alter und {\"A}ngstlichkeit auf die Furchtgeneralisierung und die Aufmerksamkeitslenkung bei gesunden Kindern und Jugendlichen},
  doi       = {10.25972/OPUS-30010},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-300100},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2023},
  abstract  = {Mittels einer klinischen Studie wurden die Furchtgeneralisierung und Aufmerksamkeitslenkung von 44 gesunden Kindern und Jugendlichen im Alter von 9-17 Jahren untersucht. Eine {\"U}bergeneralisierung konditionierter Furcht sowie ver{\"a}nderte Aufmerksamkeitsprozesse werden in zahlreichen Arbeiten mit der Entstehung und Aufrechterhaltung von Angsterkrankungen in Verbindung gebracht. Der Hauptteil der Forschung beschr{\"a}nkte sich bislang auf die Untersuchung von erwachsenen Probanden. Da Angsterkrankungen jedoch h{\"a}ufig bereits im Kindes- und Jugendalter entstehen und sich in der Erforschung psychiatrischer Erkrankungen zunehmend eine dimensionale Betrachtungsweise durchsetzt, bestand das Ziel der Studie darin, etwaige Alterseffekte und den Einfluss der {\"A}ngstlichkeit auf die genannten Ph{\"a}nomene bei gesunden Probanden zu untersuchen. Dar{\"u}ber hinaus wurde ein potentiell pr{\"a}ventiver Ansatz erforscht. Im Ergebnis zeigten sich in den Gruppenvergleichen keine relevanten Differenzen. Interessanterweise deutete sich in der Gruppe der {\"a}lteren Probanden entgegen der Erwartung eine verst{\"a}rkte Furchtgeneralisierung an, die wom{\"o}glich mit einer ver{\"a}nderten Beziehung zu Furcht und Risiko in der Adoleszenz zusammenh{\"a}ngt. Aus den Befunden ergibt sich die Notwendigkeit weiterer, prospektiver Arbeiten, um unser Verst{\"a}ndnis der {\"A}tiologie von Angsterkrankungen zu verbessern. Weiterhin ist noch offen, inwiefern es sich bei der {\"U}bergeneralisierung und einer ver{\"a}nderten Aufmerksamkeitslenkung um Risikofaktoren f{\"u}r die Entwicklung von Angsterkrankungen oder vielmehr um Epiph{\"a}nomene handelt, die erst mit Ausbruch der Erkrankung auftreten. Der Einsatz von Methoden der virtuellen Realit{\"a}t erscheint besonders geeignet, diese Prozesse zuk{\"u}nftig noch besser zu erforschen.},
  subject      = {Angst},
  language  = {de}
}
@phdthesis{Berking2021,
  author    = {Berking, Ann-Cathrine},
  title     = {Assoziationsuntersuchung von ausgew{\"a}hlten Polymorphismen der Gene DNMT3A und DNMT3B mit der Panikst{\"o}rung},
  doi       = {10.25972/OPUS-23468},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-234687},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2021},
  abstract  = {Currently, the vulnerability-stress model, in the sense of a multifactorial explanatory model, is considered to be the most appropriate to represent the etiopathogenesis of anxiety disorders. Epigenetic mechanisms are understood as a bridge between genetic factors and environmental factors. This includes the methylation of specific DNA regions, which is mediated by DNA methyltransferases. These enzymes have rarely been the focus of psychiatric research in relation to anxiety disorders. Therefore, this work deals with selected single nucleotide polymorphisms of the DNMT3A and DNMT3B gene and investigates whether these SNPs and/or their haplotypes are associated panic disorder and/or with dimensional psychological characteristics, such as anxiety-related cognition or anxiety sensitivity. In summary, a significant or nominally significant association of two SNPs with anxiety-related characteristics such was shown. To better assess these associations, replications with sufficient test strength are required . Given the demonstrated association with PSWQ, investigation of another anxiety phenotype, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, is also sensible. As a further step, the functionality of the significantly associated SNPs should be performed. In addition, another DNMT, Dnmt1, is associated with fear conditioning, and the methylation patterns of the DNMTs themselves also appear to have an impact on the development of anxiety disorders. Therefore, an investigation of the DNMT1 gene and the methylation patterns of the DNMT genes are further reasonable steps to better understand a possible influence of DNMTs on the development of anxiety disorders and on anxiety-related psychological characteristics.},
  language  = {de}
}
@phdthesis{Brunhuber2021,
  author    = {Brunhuber, Bettina Stefanie},
  title     = {Modifikation konditionierter Furchtreaktionen durch transkranielle Gleichstromstimulation},
  doi       = {10.25972/OPUS-23756},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-237562},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2021},
  abstract  = {In dieser Arbeit wurde untersucht, ob eine anodale tDCS {\"u}ber der Elektrodenposition AF3 und der Kathode {\"u}ber dem kontralateralen Mastoid Extinktionslernen modulieren kann. Auf Basis aktueller Forschungsergebnisse wurden die Hypothesen aufgestellt, dass im Vergleich von real stimulierter zu sham stimulierter Gruppe ein Unterschied in der Hautleitf{\"a}higkeitsrekation, dem Arousalrating und dem Valenzrating der Versuchsteilnehmenden im Vergleich von CS+ und CS- und im zeitlichen Verlauf von Akquisition zu Extinktion gezeigt werden kann. Um dies zu pr{\"u}fen wurde eine randomisiert doppelt-verblindete Studie mit insgesamt 86 Probanden durchgef{\"u}hrt, von denen nach {\"U}berpr{\"u}fen einer suffizienten Furchtkonditionierungsreaktion nach der Akquisitionsphase noch 46 Teilnehmer eingeschlossen wurden. Diese wurden auf zwei tDCS Gruppen im Sinne von realer Stimulation und sham Stimulation verblindet und zuf{\"a}llig aufgeteilt. Alle Teilnehmer durchliefen ein eint{\"a}giges Furchtkonditionierungsparadigma mit drei Phasen: Habituation, Akquisition und Extinktion. W{\"a}hrend allen Phasen wurde die Hautleitf{\"a}higkeitsreaktion gemessen und die Probanden wurden gebeten die ihnen pr{\"a}sentierten Stimuli hinsichtlich deren Valenz und Arousal einzusch{\"a}tzen. Die tDCS fand in einer zehnmin{\"u}tigen Pause vor der Extinktion und w{\"a}hrend destdcs Extinktionsdurchlaufs statt. In den Ergebnissen zeigt sich kein differenzieller Effekt der tDCS. In den erhobenen Hautleitf{\"a}higkeitsdaten zeigt sich in der fr{\"u}hen Extinktionsphase eine verringerte Hautleitf{\"a}higkeit in der verum stimulierten tDCS Gruppe unabh{\"a}ngig davon, ob ein CS+ oder ein CS- zu sehen war. Dies deutet auf eine generell verminderte Aufregung bei realer tDCS hin. In den Bewertungen bez{\"u}glich Arousal und Valenz findet sich ebenfalls kein Effekt der tDCS. In den Bewertungen zeigt sich jedoch die erfolgreiche Konditionierung und deren Extinktion. Nachfolgend stellt sich die Frage, ob zuk{\"u}nftig Paradigmen mit einem zweit{\"a}gigen Design bevorzugt werden sollten, da diese realen Bedingungen n{\"a}herkommen und teilweise auch Effekte der tDCS gezeigt haben. Abschließend l{\"a}sst sich die große Rolle des vmPFC in der Verarbeitung von aversiven Reizen darstellen und betonen, welch großes Potential in einer Beeinflussung der Aktivit{\"a}t des vmPFC liegt, das zuk{\"u}nftig genauer untersucht werden muss.},
  subject      = {Furchtkonditionierung},
  language  = {de}
}
@article{PittigHeinigGoerigketal.2021,
  author    = {Pittig, Andre and Heinig, Ingmar and Goerigk, Stephan and Thiel, Freya and Hummel, Katrin and Scholl, Lucie and Deckert, J{\"u}rgen and Pauli, Paul and Domschke, Katharina and Lueken, Ulrike and Fydrich, Thomas and Fehm, Lydia and Plag, Jens and Str{\"o}hle, Andreas and Kircher, Tilo and Straube, Benjamin and Rief, Winfried and Koelkebeck, Katja and Arolt, Volker and Dannlowski, Udo and Margraf, J{\"u}rgen and Totzeck, Christina and Schneider, Silvia and Neudeck, Peter and Craske, Michelle G. and Hollandt, Maike and Richter, Jan and Hamm, Alfons and Wittchen, Hans-Ulrich},
  title     = {Efficacy of temporally intensified exposure for anxiety disorders: A multicenter randomized clinical trial},
  series = {Depression and Anxiety},
  volume    = {38},
  journal   = {Depression and Anxiety},
  number    = {11},
  doi       = {10.1002/da.23204},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-257331},
  pages     = {1169-1181},
  year      = {2021},
  abstract  = {Background The need to optimize exposure treatments for anxiety disorders may be addressed by temporally intensified exposure sessions. Effects on symptom reduction and public health benefits should be examined across different anxiety disorders with comorbid conditions. Methods This multicenter randomized controlled trial compared two variants of prediction error-based exposure therapy (PeEx) in various anxiety disorders (both 12 sessions + 2 booster sessions, 100 min/session): temporally intensified exposure (PeEx-I) with exposure sessions condensed to 2 weeks (n = 358) and standard nonintensified exposure (PeEx-S) with weekly exposure sessions (n = 368). Primary outcomes were anxiety symptoms (pre, post, and 6-months follow-up). Secondary outcomes were global severity (across sessions), quality of life, disability days, and comorbid depression. Results Both treatments resulted in substantial improvements at post (PeEx-I: d\(_{within}\) = 1.50, PeEx-S: d\(_{within}\) = 1.78) and follow-up (PeEx-I: d\(_{within}\) = 2.34; PeEx-S: d\(_{within}\) = 2.03). Both groups showed formally equivalent symptom reduction at post and follow-up. However, time until response during treatment was 32\% shorter in PeEx-I (median = 68 days) than PeEx-S (108 days; TR\(_{PeEx-I}\)-I = 0.68). Interestingly, drop-out rates were lower during intensified exposure. PeEx-I was also superior in reducing disability days and improving quality of life at follow-up without increasing relapse. Conclusions Both treatment variants focusing on the transdiagnostic exposure-based violation of threat beliefs were effective in reducing symptom severity and disability in severe anxiety disorders. Temporally intensified exposure resulted in faster treatment response with substantial public health benefits and lower drop-out during the exposure phase, without higher relapse. Clinicians can expect better or at least comparable outcomes when delivering exposure in a temporally intensified manner.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{PrelogHilligardtSchmidtetal.2016,
  author    = {Prelog, Martina and Hilligardt, Deborah and Schmidt, Christian A. and Przybylski, Grzegorz K. and Leierer, Johannes and Almanzar, Giovanni and El Hajj, Nady and Lesch, Klaus-Peter and Arolt, Volker and Zwanzger, Peter and Haaf, Thomas and Domschke, Katharina},
  title     = {Hypermethylation of FOXP3 Promoter and Premature Aging of the Immune System in Female Patients with Panic Disorder?},
  series = {PLoS ONE},
  volume    = {11},
  journal   = {PLoS ONE},
  number    = {6},
  doi       = {10.1371/journal.pone.0157930},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-179684},
  year      = {2016},
  abstract  = {Immunological abnormalities associated with pathological conditions, such as higher infection rates, inflammatory diseases, cancer or cardiovascular events are common in patients with panic disorder. In the present study, T cell receptor excision circles (TRECs), Forkhead-Box-Protein P3 gene (FOXP3) methylation of regulatory T cells (Tregs) and relative telomere lengths (RTLs) were investigated in a total and subsamples of 131 patients with panic disorder as compared to 131 age- and sex-matched healthy controls in order to test for a potential dysfunction and premature aging of the immune system in anxiety disorders. Significantly lower TRECs (p = 0.004) as well as significant hypermethylation of the FOXP3 promoter region (p = 0.005) were observed in female (but not in male) patients with panic disorder as compared to healthy controls. No difference in relative telomere length was discerned between patients and controls, but significantly shorter telomeres in females, smokers and older persons within the patient group. The presently observed reduced TRECs in panic disorder patients and FOXP3 hypermethylation in female patients with panic disorder potentially reflect impaired thymus and immunosuppressive Treg function, which might partly account for the known increased morbidity and mortality of anxiety disorders conferred by e.g. cancer and cardiovascular disorders.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{DiemerAlpersPeperkornetal.2015,
  author    = {Diemer, Julia and Alpers, Georg W. and Peperkorn, Henrik M. and Shiban, Youssef and M{\"u}hlberger, Andreas},
  title     = {The impact of perception and presence on emotional reactions: a review of research in virtual reality},
  series = {Frontiers in Psychology},
  volume    = {6},
  journal   = {Frontiers in Psychology},
  number    = {26},
  doi       = {10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00026},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-144200},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {Virtual reality (VR) has made its way into mainstream psychological research in the last two decades. This technology, with its unique ability to simulate complex, real situations and contexts, offers researchers unprecedented opportunities to investigate human behavior in well controlled designs in the laboratory. One important application of VR is the investigation of pathological processes in mental disorders, especially anxiety disorders. Research on the processes underlying threat perception, fear, and exposure therapy has shed light on more general aspects of the relation between perception and emotion. Being by its nature virtual, i.e., simulation of reality, VR strongly relies on the adequate selection of specific perceptual cues to activate emotions. Emotional experiences in turn are related to presence, another important concept in VR, which describes the user's sense of being in a VR environment. This paper summarizes current research into perception of fear cues, emotion, and presence, aiming at the identification of the most relevant aspects of emotional experience in VR and their mutual relations. A special focus lies on a series of recent experiments designed to test the relative contribution of perception and conceptual information on fear in VR. This strand of research capitalizes on the dissociation between perception (bottom up input) and conceptual information (top-down input) that is possible in VR. Further, we review the factors that have so far been recognized to influence presence, with emotions (e.g., fear) being the most relevant in the context of clinical psychology. Recent research has highlighted the mutual influence of presence and fear in VR, but has also traced the limits of our current understanding of this relationship. In this paper, the crucial role of perception on eliciting emotional reactions is highlighted, and the role of arousal as a basic dimension of emotional experience is discussed. An interoceptive attribution model of presence is suggested as a first step toward an integrative framework for emotion research in VR. Gaps in the current literature and future directions are outlined.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{StraubeReifRichteretal.2014,
  author    = {Straube, B. and Reif, A. and Richter, J. and Lueken, U. and Weber, H. and Arolt, V. and Jansen, A. and Zwanzger, P. and Domschke, K. and Pauli, P. and Konrad, C. and Gerlach, A. L. and Lang, T. and Fydrich, T. and Alpers, G. W. and Stroehle, A. and Wittmann, A. and Pfleiderer, B. and Wittchen, H.-U. and Hamm, A. and Deckert, J. and Kircher, T.},
  title     = {The functional - 1019C/G HTR1A polymorphism and mechanisms of fear},
  series = {Translational Psychiatry},
  volume    = {4},
  journal   = {Translational Psychiatry},
  issn      = {2158-3188},
  doi       = {10.1038/tp.2014.130},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-114369},
  pages     = {e490},
  year      = {2014},
  abstract  = {Serotonin receptor 1A gene (HTR1A) knockout mice show pronounced defensive behaviour and increased fear conditioning to ambiguous conditioned stimuli. Such behaviour is a hallmark of pathological human anxiety, as observed in panic disorder with agoraphobia (PD/AG). Thus, variations in HTR1A might contribute to neurophysiological differences within subgroups of PD/AG patients. Here, we tested this hypothesis by combining genetic with behavioural techniques and neuroimaging. In a clinical multicentre trial, patients with PD/AG received 12 sessions of manualized cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) and were genotyped for HTR1A rs6295. In four subsamples of this multicentre trial, exposure behaviour (n = 185), defensive reactivity measured using a behavioural avoidance test (BAT; before CBT: n = 245; after CBT: n = 171) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data during fear conditioning were acquired before and after CBT (n = 39). HTR1A risk genotype (GG) carriers more often escaped during the BAT before treatment. Exploratory fMRI results suggest increased activation of the amygdala in response to threat as well as safety cues before and after treatment in GG carriers. Furthermore, GG carriers demonstrated reduced effects of CBT on differential conditioning in regions including the bilateral insulae and the anterior cingulate cortex. Finally, risk genotype carriers demonstrated reduced self-initiated exposure behaviour to aversive situations. This study demonstrates the effect of HTR1A variation on defensive behaviour, amygdala activity, CBT-induced neural plasticity and normalization of defence behaviour in PD/AG. Our results, therefore, translate evidence from animal studies to humans and suggest a central role for HTR1A in differentiating subgroups of patients with anxiety disorders.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Calame2004,
  author    = {Calame, Silke},
  title     = {Zusammenhang von Angst mit dem Schweregrad der Anorexia nervosa - Komorbidit{\"a}t am Beispiel einer klinischen Studie},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-13830},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2004},
  abstract  = {In der Literatur wird eine hohe Komorbidit{\"a}t zwischen Anorexia nervosa und Angstst{\"o}rungen beschrieben. Die Dissertation beinhaltet eine klinische Studie anhand von 29 anorektischen Patientinnen, in der der Zusammenhang zwischen der Auspr{\"a}gung der Angst und dem Schweregrad der Anorexia nervosa untersucht wurde. Als Testverfahren kamen zur Anwendung State-Trait-Angstinventar (Stai), Sozialphobie und -angstinventar f{\"u}r Kinder (SPAIK), Anorexia nervosa Inventar zur Selbstbeobachtung (ANIS), Fragebogen zum Eßverhalten (FEV), Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) und Body Mass Index (BMI). Es zeigte sich eine deutliche Korrelation zwischen der Angst und der Auspr{\"a}gung der psychopathologischen Symptomatik der Eßst{\"o}rung. Ein vermuteter Zusammenhang zwischen niedrigem Ausgangs - BMI und hohem Angstniveau konnte nicht best{\"a}tigt werden.},
  language  = {de}
}