The Role of Serotonin in the Regulation of Anxiety

This chapter reviews research relating 5-HT to another dimension of psychopathology: anxiety. Since 1948, when it was discovered in blood platelets, serotonin (5-HT) has gained increasing attention for its role in a variety of brain functions, mental disorders. In comparison with studies of 5-HT in depression, the role of 5-HT in anxiety has received considerably less attention. Most of the data supporting connection between 5-HT, anxiety are based on animal studies. A major methodological problem in animal laboratory studies of anxiety is that the emotion must be inferred exclusively from external behavior. Assessment of DHT’s effects at times other than the ones used in the above studies has led to varying findings. Since diminishing 5-HT function results in anxiety reduction, one might predict that increasing 5-HT availability would cause the opposite effect. Since BZs are clearly effective anxiety-reducing agents in humans, cause release from behavioral suppression in animals, it would be of interest to determine their effects on central 5-HT.