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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Neuroimaging
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1461290
This article is part of the Research Topic Brain Networks And Clinical Manifestations Of Mood And Anxiety Disorders View all 5 articles

Functional Excitation-Inhibition Ratio for Social Anxiety Analysis and Severity Assessment

Provisionally accepted
Linh H. Chu Linh H. Chu 1Chi Q. Chau Chi Q. Chau 1Nidal Kamel Nidal Kamel 1*Huong T. Ha Huong T. Ha 2Norashikin Yahya Norashikin Yahya 3
  • 1 VinUniversity (VinUni), Hanoi, Vietnam
  • 2 National University of Ho Chi Minh, International University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
  • 3 Technical University of PETRONAS, Bandar Seri Iskandar, Malaysia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is a prevalent psychiatric condition characterized by an intense fear of and avoidance of social situations. Traditional assessment methods for SAD primarily rely on subjective self-report questionnaires and clinical interviews, which can be prone to biases and inaccuracies. This study investigates the potential of the functional excitation-inhibition (fEI) ratio, derived from EEG data, as an objective biomarker for assessing SAD severity. Resting-state EEG data were collected from 20 control subjects and 60 individuals with mild, moderate, and severe SAD. The fEI ratio was estimated across different EEG bands and compared between control subjects and the SAD groups. Results showed significantly higher fEI ratios in the alpha and low beta bands in individuals with SAD compared to controls, particularly in the prefrontal cortex. Furthermore, there was a positive correlation between the fEI ratio and the severity of social anxiety symptoms within the SAD groups. These findings suggest that the fEI ratio in the alpha and lower beta bands is a promising biomarker for assessing SAD severity and provides insights into the neural mechanisms underlying social anxiety.

    Keywords: social anxiety disorder (SAD), EEG, excitation inhibition balance, resting state network, DMN (default mode network)

    Received: 08 Jul 2024; Accepted: 07 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Chu, Chau, Kamel, Ha and Yahya. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Nidal Kamel, VinUniversity (VinUni), Hanoi, Vietnam

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.