Article May 21, 1998

Discussion on Brain Mechanisms of Social Anxiety Disorder

J Clin Psychiatry 1998;59(suppl 17):10-11

Because this piece does not have an abstract, we have provided for your benefit the first 3 sentences of the full text.

Dr. Ballenger: What is known about dorsal raphe serotonergic control of striatal dopamine neurons?
Professor Nutt: The conventional idea is that the 5-HT input is inhibitory, for several reasons. One is that if you increase 5-HT with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), you can get symptoms that are similar to what you get with dopamine blockade, so akathisia and dystonias, as reported with some SSRIs, are effects similar to those found when blocking dopamine D2 receptors with neuroleptics.