Hypermerimna (/ˌhaɪpərməˈrɪmnə/; from Greek ὑπέρ (hyper) 'over' and μέριμνα (merimna) 'anxiety') is an inability to remove focus from anxiety-producing stimuli, which may be caused by damage to the attention control centers of the brain.
Causes
editHypermerimna is observed when a subject with anxiety has difficulty in disengaging from novel stimuli, and may be caused by damage to the brain's pre-frontal control regions.[1][2][3][4] The patterns of disrupted attentional control relate to findings of disrupted performance on executive functions tasks, such as working memory across a wide number of different disorder groups.[5]
Treatment
editHypermerimna may respond to standard treatment for painful conditions if the anxiety is induced by pain, using various drugs such as SSRIs or tricyclic antidepressants.[6]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Kalisch, R., Wiech, K., Critchley, H.D., Seymour, B., O’Doherty, J.P., Oakley, D.A., Allen, P., Dolan, R.J (2005). "Anxiety reduction through detachment: subjective, physiological, and neural effects". Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 17 (6): 874–83. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.319.5312. doi:10.1162/0898929054021184. PMID 15969906. S2CID 414744.
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Pacheco-Unguetti, Antonia Pilar; Acosta, Alberto; Callejas, Alicia; Lupiáñez, Juan (2010). "Attention and anxiety: different attentional functioning under state and trait anxiety". Psychological Science. 21 (2): 298–304. doi:10.1177/0956797609359624. PMID 20424060. S2CID 34083371.
- ^ Conway, Andrew R. A.; Cowan, Nelson; Bunting, Michael F. (2001-06-01). "The cocktail party phenomenon revisited: The importance of working memory capacity". Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. 8 (2): 331–335. doi:10.3758/BF03196169. ISSN 1069-9384. PMID 11495122.
- ^ Pashler, H; Johnston, JC; Ruthruff, E (2001-01-01). "Attention and Performance". Annual Review of Psychology. 52 (1): 629–651. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.52.1.629. PMID 11148320.
- ^ Astle, Duncan E.; Scerif, Gaia (2009-03-01). "Using developmental cognitive neuroscience to study behavioral and attentional control". Developmental Psychobiology. 51 (2): 107–118. doi:10.1002/dev.20350. ISSN 1098-2302. PMID 18973175.
- ^ Matsuzawa-Yanagida K, Narita M, Nakajima M, et al. (July 2008). "Usefulness of antidepressants for improving the neuropathic pain-like state and pain-induced anxiety through actions at different brain sites". Neuropsychopharmacology. 33 (8): 1952–65. doi:10.1038/sj.npp.1301590. PMID 17957217.