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World J Psychiatry. Oct 19, 2026; 16(10): 123719
Published online Oct 19, 2026. doi: 10.5498/wjp.123719
Published online Oct 19, 2026. doi: 10.5498/wjp.123719
Coordinated dysregulation of the hippocampus-amygdala-prefrontal cortex circuit in anxiety and depressive disorders: A narrative review
Xia Zhao, Wei Zhang, Department Five of Brain Disease Rehabilitation, Affiliated Hospital of Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shenyang 110032, Liaoning Province, China
Dan Xu, Department of Psychiatry, Shenyang Mental Health Center, Shenyang 110062, Liaoning Province, China
Xing-An Liu, Department of Neurological Rehabilitation III, Affiliated Hospital of Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shenyang 110032, Liaoning Province, China
Author contributions: Zhao X contributed to conceptualization, data curation, methodology, software, writing - original draft; Zhang W and Xu D contributed to formal analysis, project administration, and visualization; Liu XA contributed to investigation, supervision, validation, writing - review and editing. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
AI contribution statement: No AI tools were used in the preparation of this manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Corresponding author: Xing-An Liu, Department of Neurological Rehabilitation III, Affiliated Hospital of Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 33 Beiling Street, Shenyang 110032, Liaoning Province, China. liuxing_an@126.com
Received: June 2, 2026
Revised: June 27, 2026
Accepted: July 10, 2026
Published online: October 19, 2026
Processing time: 130 Days and 0.9 Hours
Revised: June 27, 2026
Accepted: July 10, 2026
Published online: October 19, 2026
Processing time: 130 Days and 0.9 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: This review highlights that anxiety and depressive disorders involve dysregulation of the hippocampus-amygdala-prefrontal cortex circuit, rather than isolated regional dysfunction. In anxiety, disruption of this circuit promotes hypervigilance to threats and the generalization of fear; in depression, it underlies negative memory bias and cognitive inflexibility. Comorbidity involves the reciprocal reinforcement of threat anticipation and negative memory. This circuit-based per