Brain Scans Can't Predict Social Anxiety Development, Study Finds

A study using hundreds of brain scans found that brain structure cannot reliably predict which children will develop social anxiety. Researchers Janna Marie Bas-Hoogendam and Daniel Pine examined links between childhood inhibited behaviour and later anxiety. The paper, published in 2025, was named Paper of the Year by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at its annual meeting in Atlanta on October 30.