Alterations of Default Mode Network Effective Connectivity in Youth with Social Anxiety Disorder.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Often emerging in early adolescence, social anxiety disorder (SAD) is a mental health condition characterised by persistent fears of negative evaluation. Neuroimaging studies implicate disruptions in the default mode network (DMN) in SAD, however, it remains unclear whether specific DMN regions are driving broader network alterations during this developmental period. METHODS: Thirty-six adolescents and young adults (aged 16-25) with SAD and 66 age- and gender-matched controls underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. Using spectral dynamic causal modelling, we examined effective connectivity between core DMN nodes, including the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC..