Resting-State Functional Connectivity Differences Between Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Social Anxiety Disorder: Nucleus Accumbens and Thalamus Networks

This fMRI study compared brain functional connectivity in 21 social anxiety disorder (SAD) patients, 17 generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) patients, and 30 healthy controls, finding that GAD involves stronger connectivity between the nucleus accumbens and thalamus compared to SAD. The nucleus accumbens-thalamus connectivity correlated with state anxiety severity in both anxiety groups, suggesting this network distinction may help differentiate between these two conditions.