Affective neuroscience and the development of social anxiety disorder

This article reviews recent data on social anxiety disorder from the dual p erspectives of affective neuroscience and developmental psychopathology. Th e perspective of affective neuroscience attempts to understand emotional ph enomena by delineating neural systems that mediate such phenomena. Advances in basic neuroscience techniques for research with animals and neuroimagin g methods for research with humans have generated considerable enthusiasm f or this perspective. The perspective of developmental psychopathology attem pts to delineate changes in behaviors and mental phenomena that occur as ch ildren mature, with the ultimate goal of enhancing understandings of both n ormal and abnormal phenomena.