Pharmacotherapy of Generalized Anxiety Disorder With Seroquel: Normalization of Brain Stress and Reward Function

Subjects will be recruited from clinic patients and known research subjects at McLean Hospital, as well as by advertisements in the media, flyers, and word of mouth. An initial telephone interview will be conducted to determine if potential subjects meet the basic study requirements. Subjects will be also screened for drug use. If no obvious health problems are present, subjects will be scheduled for an evaluation. Upon arrival at the research unit, each subject will first complete a standardized interview schedule designed to obtain personal and background data such as age, marital status, socio-economic status, education, employment, etc. The Research Assistant will give subjects both verbal and written descriptions of the study procedures. After briefing subjects on the reasons for the research, subjects will be given the opportunity to ask questions. When they are ready, subjects will be asked to sign the written informed consent form approved by the Mclean Institutional Review Board (IRB). Functional magnetic resonance imaging scans to examine brain functioning will be obtained from GAD patients (N=30) at baseline and after 12 weeks. Seroquel XR tablets will be flexibly dosed and begun at a target dose of 50 mg on day 1, 100 mg on day 2, 150 mg on day 3 and 200 mg on day 4 with a maximal daily dose of 400 mg on subsequent days.